Request ID: FOI-0573-2324 Date published: 19 June 2023
You asked
Can you please supply copies of all correspondence to any approved card reader companies that are fitted into London Taxis about poor and intermittent signal issues from LTPH/TFL and the replies received.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-0573-2324/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 24 May 2023 asking for information about Debit / Credit Cards Poor Signal Issues.
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 that we do hold the information you require. You asked:
Can you please supply copies of all correspondence to any approved card reader companies that are fitted into London Taxis about poor and intermittent signal issues from LTPH/TFL and the replies received.
Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.
We have carried out an email search, for correspondence between team members in the TPH Policy Team and the approved companies that make card payment devices, using the keyword ‘signal’. This search was carried out over the seven year period for which we retain email correspondence. The search resulted in over 650 ‘hits’. This number will likely include duplicates, as well as emails not caught by your request. However, we would still need to manually review all of the emails identified by the search in order to extract and collate the relevant emails to answer your request.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to submit a request with a narrower scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can. You may wish to submit a request limited to our communications with a specific company, and also consider limiting your request to a specific period of time.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.
If you are not satisfied with this response 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
