Request ID: FOI-0586-2122 Date published: 21 July 2021
You asked
Further to FOI-0476-2122:
I acknowledge that my references in 2, 3 and 4 may not use your exact phraseology however, I beleive you understand what I am seeking:
1. the above £10,000 rates utilised by Kier to bill TfL when billing drivers, fleets, hauliers or their insurers (Third parties) for attendance upon incidents giving rise to damage to your roads or 'street furniture' and for subsequent repairs.
If you still consider the rates you are charged to be 'commercially sensitive' which I do not beleive to be the case following more recent decisions than those you are citing, I ask you to:
2. confirm whether the rates TfL are charged are identical, more or less than, the rates Kier Highways charge Third Parties and which they have disclosed; the 'KSoR' appear here: https://www.englandhighways.co.uk/dcp-claims-and-the-kier-schedule-of-rates/
3. Assuming you have made enquiries of the situation, if the rates charged are more to Third parties, what action have you taken to prevent this?
I am aware , where damage is caused to 'street furniture' all costs up to a repair value of £10k are included in the annual lump sum price.
4. Please advise what amount within the annual lump sum price is allocated to damage caused to street furniture and how this figure was arrived at for the current and immediately preceding year.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0586-2122
Thank you for your request received on 24 June 2021 asking for information about Kier Highways Ltd.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.
However, we are refusing your request under section 14(1) of the Act, which provides an exemption to the disclosure of information where a request is considered to be ‘vexatious’. In reaching this conclusion we have drawn on guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that can be found on its website here: https://ico.org.uk/media/1198/dealing-with-vexatious-requests.pdf.
As previously advised, the FOI requests you have submitted to us over the past few months have contained a significant amount of repetition and overlap, particularly on the subject of Kier’s schedule of rates, but also on other matters surrounding the LoHAC. A number of these requests asked for information that had already been provided to you or requested information on issues that have been addressed extensively through the full appeals process many times.
You will note that the guidance includes some specific indicators to help public authorities judge whether or not a case should be considered vexatious. This includes the following:
“Unreasonable persistence: The requester is attempting to reopen an issue which has already been comprehensively addressed by the public authority, or otherwise subjected to some form of independent scrutiny.”
“Frequent or overlapping requests: The requester submits frequent correspondence about the same issue or sends in new requests before the public authority has had an opportunity to address their earlier enquiries.”
“Futile requests: The issue at hand individually affects the requester and has already been conclusively resolved by the authority or subjected to some form of independent investigation.”
Given the repetition of the same questions and issues being requested, despite having been comprehensively addressed, we consider that we have sufficient grounds to refuse this request on the grounds of section 14(1). In any case, it should be noted that you have already had answers to all of the information requested and so we further consider that the information is available to you elsewhere, except in instances where exemptions had been applied.
We strongly recommend that you take into account the guidance and advice provided by the ICO such as the “dos and don’ts” published on its website here before submitting further requests and consider whether you are asking for new information, taking into account any previous requests you have made to us: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information/
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
