Revenue generated by TFL directly from merchandise sales and licensing of TFL owned properties
Request ID: FOI-0456-2223 Date published: 21 June 2022
You asked
Please could you provide a summary of the revenue earned by Transport for London from:
1. The direct sale of all TFL branded or related (to the different transport modes) consumer products, such as through the London Transport Museum shop
2. The licencing of TFL owned imagery or properties on products sold by third parties such as, but not limited to, the Arsenal X TFL adidas range
Please could you provide this information by year, for as many years as the information is available.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0456-2223 Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 May 2022, asking for information about revenue from sales and licensing of TfL products. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and TfL’s information access policy. I can confirm TfL holds the information you require. Specifically you asked: Please could you provide a summary of the revenue earned by Transport for London from:
The direct sale of all TFL branded or related (to the different transport modes) consumer products, such as through the London Transport Museum shop.
All consumer products in the London Transport Museum (LTM) gift shop are related to transport, whether branded or not. Figures from the sale of products in the LTM shop are published in trading reports at Companies House via https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06527755/filing-history. London Transport Museum (Trading) Ltd was formed in 2008. The reports date back to 2009. In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.
The licencing of TFL owned imagery or properties on products sold by third parties such as, but not limited to, the Arsenal X TFL adidas range.
Please could you provide this information by year, for as many years as the information is available. As well as selling products through the LTM gift shop, we run an extensive brand licensing programme. The development and sale of these products is undertaken by 3rd party companies, who create various consumer products featuring our intellectual property (IP). All of this income is reinvested into public transport. The brand licensing programme is run through an agency. Any deals they make are between the agency and the licensee and TfL receives a percentage of that income. However, in accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply this information as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2) - Commercial Interests. We are about to go to tender for the agency contract; we expect this to be advertised and opened for applications by the end of August 2022. In this instance the section 43(2) exemption has been applied as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice our commercial interests, as well as the third parties. Disclosure of this information into the public domain at this time would be likely to affect our ability to compete effectively in the impending tender exercise and hinder our ability to negotiate the best value for money for this service.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, particularly where the expenditure of public money is concerned, but in this instance the public interest in ensuring that we are able to obtain the best value for public money outweighs the general public interest in increasing transparency of our processes.
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
Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
