Public Holiday PCN Issue vs Sunday and Monday PCN issue
Request ID: FOI-0676-2425 Date published: 21 June 2024
You asked
Please provide the data relating to PCN issue to vehicles on the following basis within the TfL road network.
If possible provide this at a PCN level, although acceptable for stretch of road - my preference would be to have Long & Lat of point of issue.
Ideally a table containing the following columns:
- Date & Time of issue
- location of issue
- UK Govt recognised holiday (True/False)
- enforcement officer
- contravention type
- red or white lined bay (to reference if peak or not from here
- Status (Closed; Appealed - Successfully; Appealed - not successful)
- if appealed - what basis was upheld.
I’d like this data for Sundays, Mondays and Public holidays (if not included in the Sundays and Mondays) around 107 days per year the following periods:
2012 - 2024
The purpose of this request is in order to establish if this article published in 2012 still remains true and TfL have not made enough changes to inform motorists.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0676-2425
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 27th May 2024 asking for information about Penalty Charge Notices. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Please provide the data relating to PCN issue to vehicles on the following basis within the TfL road network.
If possible provide this at a PCN level, although acceptable for stretch of road - my preference would be to have Long & Lat of point of issue.
Ideally a table containing the following columns:
- Date & Time of issue - location of issue - UK Govt recognised holiday (True/False) - enforcement officer - contravention type - red or white lined bay (to reference if peak or not from here - Status (Closed; Appealed - Successfully; Appealed - not successful) - if appealed - what basis was upheld.
I’d like this data for Sundays, Mondays and Public holidays (if not included in the Sundays and Mondays) around 107 days per year the following periods: 2012 – 2024”.
I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require (note that we only hold data from 2016, and that this relates to around 600,000 Penalty Charge Notices). However, I am afraid that it is not possible to source all of the requested information within the costs limit for responding to FOI cases, as set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12, TfL is not required to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if that information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract it from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work.
In this instance the exemption applies because the information has not been collated before, and there is no quick, efficient or automated way of doing so. For example, regarding the element around representations (appeals), we would need to look at the records of around 50,000 penalties which have had representations made against them to establish on what grounds the representations were made and the basis on which some were accepted. While it is difficult to give a precise estimate as to how long it would take to source this, we believe it would be well in excess of the 18 hour limit.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to reframe it to narrow its scope, focussing on the information that is of most importance to you.
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
