Request ID: FOI-0649-2122 Date published: 04 August 2021
You asked
I would like to make the following request under the Freedom of Information Act:
From the last five financial years (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 & 2020/21)
Can I have a breakdown of all compensation claims paid out by Transport for London for incidents at London Underground stations?
In the breakdown can I have it broken down by each compensation claim
. The general category of the claim (eg. Public liability, employers liability, death in service)
. The station where the incident happened
. Details of the compensation
. Number of claims made
. The amount paid
. Any free text in your database regarding the incident
May I please also have the data in an Excel spreadsheet format.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0649-2122
Thank you for your request of 27th June 2021 and subsequent clarifications asking for information about compensation claims made in relation to accidents at London Underground stations.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“From the last five financial years (2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 & 2020/21) Can I have a breakdown of all compensation claims paid out by Transport for London for incidents at London Underground stations?
In the breakdown can I have it broken down by each compensation claim:
The general category of the claim (eg. Public liability, employers liability, death in service)
The station where the incident happened
Details of the compensation
Number of claims made
The amount paid
Any free text in your database regarding the incident
You confirmed that “death in service” relates to staff members who have died while on duty where a claim has been made for alleged negligence by TfL, and you also stated that you wanted to see information relating to claims “whether these were successful or not”.
I can confirm that TfL holds the information requested. However, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, the exemption that protects against the unfair release of personal data. This is because the amount of case-specific detail you have requested could allow individuals to be identified, and would put into the public domain information that, by any reasonable assumption, those people would not want to be made public - namely, the fact that they submitted a claim to TfL; whether or not that claim was successful; and the amount paid out if they were successful.
On the question of identification, we are aware that some people who have submitted claims have had elements of their cases reported in the press (including their names and photograph). It is not possible for us to know exactly to what extent this has occurred. Further, it is also possible that for any case there are third parties (travelling companions, witnesses, colleagues etc.) who may have some knowledge of the incident and who could identify the claimant by piecing together the requested information. This is especially true of staff (where identification by colleagues is a particular concern), but also relates to members of the public. It would not be fair on those people to have hitherto private information about themselves placed into the public domain - particularly the injuries they may have suffered or the amount of compensation they may have received.
This approach has previously been agreed by the Information Commissioner - for example, see the following Decision Notice that was issued in relation to a separate but similar case:
You may wish to consider submitting a broader, less specific request, in which case we will consider it accordingly. For example, a request which does not ask for case-level detail (such as the exact nature and location of the claim, free text, and individual payments) but instead focuses on sum-totals and aggregated data is more likely to be responded to without recourse to exemptions.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
