Request ID: FOI-0221-2223 Date published: 12 May 2022
You asked
How many complaints were made in April 2022?
What was the average response time in working days of the above ?
What was the the average response time of the 10% of complaints that took the longest time to be responded to?
these are any complaints about ULEZ for any reason.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0158-2223 and FOI-0221-2223
Thank you for your requests received by Transport for London on 22nd April 2022 and 3rd May 2022 asking for information about the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
Your requests have been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked, under case ref FOI-0158-223:
“The following questions all pertain to ULEZ charges for all of March 2022:
A specific tick box for towing is supplied on the objection form. The following questions pertain to people who ticked that box, so should be extremely easy to disseminate. The reasons for the objections will need to be individually read from this set of people in order to obtain the answer to the second set of questions. Please also sate the estimates in time and cost you can up with to respond to this request.
How many charges were disputed on the grounds of being towed? How many of the above had the ULEZ charge reversed on initial objection to CClondon? How many of these went on to appeal the charge? How many charges we quashed at appeal? How many of these cited missing any evidence of the towing vehicle? How many of the above had the ULEZ charge reversed on initial objection to CClondon? How many of these went on to appeal the charge? How many charges we quashed at appeal?”
And, under case ref FOI-0221-2223:
“How many complaints were made in April 2022? What was the average response time in working days of the above ? What was the the average response time of the 10% of complaints that took the longest time to be responded to? these are any complaints about ULEZ for any reason.”
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. However, it is not possible to source the information to answer your questions within the appropriate limit for responding to FOI requests as set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12 TfL is not obliged to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if that information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract it from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work. For the purposes of calculating costs any requests received from the same applicant for the same or similar information received within any 60 consecutive day period can be aggregated. This provision applies to these two cases.
The costs limit applies largely on account of case ref FOI-0158-2223. In March 2022 TfL received 304 Auto Pay disputes. While the dispute form submitted by drivers does have a drop down option citing a vehicle being towed, the system we use to store such data does not allow as to automatically discern how many of the disputes related to vehicles being towed. Rather, to get the information to answer each of your questions we would need to manually review each individual record. We estimate this would take approximately 5 minutes per case, and hence would exceed the cost limit. Finding the information to answer your questions under case ref FOI-0221-2223 would clearly add further time still.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to narrow its scope to focus on the information that is of most importance to you - for example, by asking about disputes more generally, or for a narrower timeframe.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
