FOI request detail

Suspended/revoked PH driver licence for the last 6 years

Request ID: FOI-1237-1819
Date published: 21 August 2018

You asked

Firslty, I would like to know the number of Private Hire drivers whose their licences Suspended or revoked for the last 3 years (9th May 2016 to 9 May 2018). Also if you could please provide the Operator breakdown-who did the drivers work for. Finally, can you provide the 3 years prior (May 2013 to May 2015) the number of suspensions and successful revocations

We answered

TfL Ref: 1237-1819

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 2 August 2018 asking for information about the number of Private Hire drivers whose their licences Suspended or revoked for the last 3 years.

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.

You asked for: the number of Private Hire drivers whose their licences suspended or revoked for the last 3 years (9th May 2016 to 9 May 2018). Also if you could please provide the Operator breakdown-who did the drivers work for. Finally, can you provide the 3 years prior (May 2013 to May 2015) the number of suspensions and successful revocations.

Safety is TfL’s number one priority and we are committed to ensuring London remains a world leader in maintaining the safety of passengers.

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 estimated that it would significantly exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request. Firstly for the period covered by the first part of your request, 9th May 2016 to 9 May 2018 (two years not three as stated), there would be over a thousand licences revocations for this period alone. Further in order to establish which private hire operator (s) each revoked driver was working for at the time would require a manual check of each driver’s file.  It should be noted that we would not always hold this information either, as in some instances we receive information from the police or other authorities and were not able to establish who the driver was working for.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

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.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me

Yours sincerely

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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