Thank you for your email received by us on 10 May 2017 asking for copies of our current iBus and London Underground announcements.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and TfL’s information access policy. I can confirm TfL does hold the information you require.
Unfortunately, the electronic files of ibus, of which there are hundreds, are too large in size to be sent via email. Therefore if you would like a CD, we would be grateful if you could please send us a postal address through a private email address.
It should be noted that the iBus announcements are recorded as fragments. As a result, some announcements would not feature in full as the full announcement would just be made up of two or more fragments that have already been recorded.
Please also note that while access to this material will be provided to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you are not granted any rights to any of the intellectual property that exists in it or granted any permission to make secondary uses of it.
TfL owns all intellectual property (including, without limitation, copyright) in the material supplied and will defend such rights.
If you wish to make any secondary use of the material provided, you must first obtain the consent of TfL (which may be withheld) and, if consent is granted, a fee may be charged, in accordance with the terms of the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.
Attached are copies of our London Underground audio transcripts. Please note that in accordance with TfL’s obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the DPA, specifically the first principle of the DPA which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions of Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act which would make the processing ‘fair’.
However, in accordance with the FOI Act, Transport For London (TfL) is not obliged to supply the audio files for London Underground’s Tube announcements as the information is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2).
In this instance section 43(2) has been applied as disclosure of the information requested would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of TfL and/or Global Services Ltd. The recordings in question were provided to London Underground from Global Services Ltd under a signed contract which contained explicit conditions concerning disclosure and distribution.
The contract specifies that the recordings are solely to be used for the purpose for which they were created and for broadcast on the London Underground network only. If TfL were to disclose these recordings in response to an FOI request, it would constitute an actionable breach of contract and would be likely to result in a valid legal claim against London Underground or the license to use the recordings being withdrawn, which would impose additional, unnecessary, costs. TfL wishes to protect its commercial interests and ability to participate in future commercial activity. The disclosure of this information would be to the detriment of present and future business activities for both parties.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. TfL recognises the need for openness and transparency within public authorities and the degree of public interest concerning London transport announcements in light of the recent disclosure of iBus announcements. However, in this instance this is outweighed by the damage that would be done to TfL’s ability to use these recordings and any future contractual negotiations that may take place regarding the London Underground announcements.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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
Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London
