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Hello,

I had received a Penalty Charge Notice for driving in bus lane a year ago.
I've googled around a bit and there seems to be some confusion around if such details need to be mentioned on the form or not.

Though, I was reading through the UKBA employee guidance notes which states:

3.5.2
A fixed penalty notice (FPN), penalty charge notice (PCN) or penalty notices for disorder (PND) are a way of the criminal justice system disposing of fairly minor offences without the need for a person to attend court. Receiving one does not form part of a person‟s criminal record as there is no admission of guilt.
3.5.3
In determining whether an applicant meets the "good character" requirement, caseworkers should not normally take into account fixed penalty notices, unless the applicant has received numerous fixed penalty notices in the last 12 months, and this would suggest a pattern of behaviour that calls into question their character ...

The above does suggest that if FPN or PCN is received then the information should be provided to UKBA.

I was going through the Form AN to find an appropriate section where this information is asked and the only related section I could find was

Section 3.8 Do you have any civil judgments against you or any civil penalty under the UK Immigration Acts?

I am sure that receiving a PCN from a local council for driving in a bus lane definitely does not constitute as a penalty under UK Immigration Act.

In this case, where do you think I should mention the details of my PCN or should I just not mention it?

Regards

It may not be not relevant but if you want to mention it just put it in the extra information box.

See British Citizenship – Good Character Requirement Common Questions

mehulsanghvi wrote:]

In this case, where do you think I should mention the details of my PCN or should I just not mention it?

PCN is totally irrelevant to your application. They are totally irrelevant to any other non-immigration matters too. You are not required to give details of PCN. Once you have paid the PCN, its end of story. You need to totally forget about them.

There is no need to mention something that is not required.
I don't know why anyone would suggest giving unnecessary and irrelevant information in the application.

You are not required to give details of FPN (Fixed penalty notices) either as per here http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/briti ... character/

"You must give details of all unspent criminal convictions. This includes road traffic offences but not fixed penalty notices (such as speeding or parking tickets) unless they were given in court. You must include all drink-driving offences. An explanation of unspent convictions is given below."

Actually you should disclose FPNs and the paper counterpart of driving licence if relevant.

D4109125 wrote:Actually you should disclose FPNs and the paper counterpart of driving licence if relevant.

I understood it as if 2 or more FPN only then you require to declare isn't it ?

sunil.suneel wrote:

D4109125 wrote:Actually you should disclose FPNs and the paper counterpart of driving licence if relevant.

I understood it as if 2 or more FPN only then you require to declare isn't it ?

+1 that was my reasoning too. Why declare something when they have specifically mentioned it's the road traffic offences that lead to conviction that needs to be disclosed

Having said that another excerpt from the guide_AN document says

"3.6 – 3.7 You must give details of all criminal convictions both within and outside the
United Kingdom. These include road traffic offences. Fixed penalty notices will not
normally be taken in to account, unless you have had more than one fixed penalty notice
in the last 12 months. In that case you may wish to wait to make your application until you
have no more than one fixed penalty notice in the 12 month period before applying. Drink
driving offences must be declared. If you have any endorsements on your driving licence
you must provide the paper counterpart."

The various documents are so contradicting! Now I'm confused

The guide is very poorly written and contradictory, see Question 11 of the Good Character FAQ (clck) which explains

Thank you but is that something the admin has written or has it actually been extracted from one of UKBA's documentation? I have one FPN (50 08 268 Breach of a traffic sign 3 ) for turning left onto a one-way road. Do you think this should be disclosed in the Application form or since it's only one I've ever had can this be not mentioned?

If its on your paper counterpart you should include a copy. For transparency declaring it in the extra information box wouldn't be difficult if its still on your licence. The FAQ was created from caseworker guidance and Home Office information request and legislation.

Dear All/Experts,

Can you please help me on my query, I have spent quite a few hours reading posts and UKBA guidance notes but not been able to fully comprehend the implications of PCNs on nationality application. My query and situation is as follows;

Applied for BC on 16th Aug, 2013 (with NO mention of the first and second PCN; as I wasnt aware that i needed to or not needed to add this).

1st PCN issued on 7th Jan, 2013 (with my name and car details; was for parking in an out of hours parking area on the road), offence dated 17th Dec, 2012, fully paid for within a week. No futher actions on this from either council or myself.

2nd PCN issued on 16th Aug, 2013 (right after i submitted my BC application @ NCS), it was just unfortunate as i spent more time than i assessed would be taken to process application and meanwhile forgot to move my car out of 1hr max parking area. Any how, there is this second PCN issued.

My query is whether;
Should i call homeoffice (or write to them) or NCS (they would still have my application until 19th Aug morning) in order to add this information of new (2nd PCN) in my nationality form as per guideline AN?
Not sure if i could get away without doing this, and also how long should i wait to my fine on 2nd PCN as this would make sure i have my details and name recorded against PCN and this maybe taken into account by HO during application consideration?
Should i be worried about my application outcome either way (with or without submitting info related to 2nd PCN?)

Any response/help would be much appreciated.

Many Thanks,

Mechengg99

The guidance isn't exactly clear as for 3.5.2 it separates FPN, PCN and PND. However, the are all headed under FPNs and PCNs and PND are FPNs. One should perhaps delay applying until you have no more than one FPN in the 12 months prior to the application, you could pull your application at the NCS.

However, it remains ambiguous as to whether you actually need to declare the PCN, it is not a conviction, the entire format for criminality is poor and this could support your case if you did not declare the PCN.

HI Mehul,

I am in same situation as you were. I have got a PCN on 18/03/2015 for parking car a bit far from curb.(that is minor). I am also confused whether to mention it on form or not and if yes, where and how.

Can you please let me know what had you done in this case?

PCN not need to mention in the form. End of story