Request ID: FOI-0099-2223 Date published: 06 May 2022
You asked
Revised request - FOI-2897-2122:
“underground car park” or “underground parking” AND “Cockfosters” between June 2017 and September 2018.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0099-2223
Thank you for your request received on 13 April 2022 asking for information about parking at Cockfosters Station.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.
However, we are refusing your request under section 14(1) of the Act. We have carried out initial searches using the terms “underground car park” and “underground parking” AND “Cockfosters” during the requested time period. There were over 2,500 hits from these searches.
After reviewing a sample of our records we consider that providing the requested information would place an unreasonable burden on us. Our principal duty is to provide an effective transport service for London and we consider that answering this request would represent a disproportionate effort. It would be a significant distraction from our work, requiring re-allocation of already limited resources and placing an unacceptable burden on a small number of personnel. We do wish to clarify that whilst we consider that your request falls under section 14(1) of the FOI Act, this does not reflect a conclusion that it has been your intention to deliberately place an undue burden on our resources.
From an initial review it is clear that there are a significant number of emails that are unlikely to be of interest but are caught by the terms of the search. For example, there were a large number of results that related to the car park more generally when people referred to ‘Cockfosters London Underground car park’ in general complaints or queries, such as when incidents occurred in the car park. As all of the identified emails fall within the scope of your request we would need to collate and redact all of the correspondence to make it suitable for disclosure. As the majority of it would be of no value or little interest we consider that providing the requested information would place an unreasonable burden on us.
You may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily provide you with relevant information. For example, you may wish to suggest specific individuals we can focus our search on, or if you have specific questions that we may be able to answer more directly or specific documents that may be accessible.
Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.
In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
