FOI request detail

Freedom of Information request - Maps of Elizabeth line stations between Paddington and Abbey Wood

Request ID: FOI-0473-2223
Date published: 23 June 2022

You asked

Dear Transport for London, Please provide all maps, diagrams, and floor plans of the Elizabeth line stations between and including Paddington and Abbey Wood (including Bond Street).

We answered

Our ref: FOI-0473-2223/GH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 27 May 2022 asking for information about Elizabeth Line stations.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.

However, we are refusing your request under section 14(1) of the Act. We consider that answering this request would place an unreasonable burden on our staff, and would require the redirection of limited specialist resources and the attention of staff away from their core functions of operating public transport.

You have asked for ‘all maps, diagrams, and floor plans of the Elizabeth line stations between and including Paddington and Abbey Wood’. As you may well imagine, we hold a significant number of these documents for each of the 10 stations you are interested in. Locating and compiling all of these documents would take a significant amount of time. Each of which would then need to be manually assessed to ascertain if they contain any sensitive information which would need to be redacted. Some details of the layouts of stations cannot be released as this information could be used by those wishing to disrupt the network or cause harm to staff or the travelling public. Detailed information of this nature would therefore not be disclosed due to security issues and in order to protect the health and safety of both staff and passengers, and would be refused under sections 24 and 38 of the Freedom of Information Act.

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 place an undue burden on our resources.

On the specific application of section 14(1) we have been steered by the ICO guidance on the use of that exemption that can be found on its website here: https://ico.org.uk/media/1198/dealing-with-vexatious-requests.pdf

To be clear, it is the current context in which the request has been made that is central to our decision to apply the exemption set out in section 14(1) in response to your request. In particular, we consider the following elements of s14 apply in this instance:
 
  • The request is likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress
  • Lacks sufficient purpose or value
  • Overly burdensome

Therefore we are refusing your request under s14 of the FOI Act. You may wish to consider submitting a more refined request which focusses on  matters which are of most importance to you. For example, we are more likely to be able to provide a plan of a specific station, rather than a broad request for ‘all maps, diagrams, and floor plans’ for a number of stations. . If you have specific questions relating to these stations we may be more easily able to respond to these than to a request for any information held.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

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