I am writing to request a CD containing the following announcements: • Bakerloo Line • Jubilee Line • Northern Line • Piccadilly Line • Central Line • Victoria Line (the old announcements used for the 1967 Stock) • District Line (the old announcements used for the D78 Stock) • Circle Line (the old announcements used for the C Stock) • H&C Line (the old announcements used for the C Stock) • Metropolitan Line (the old announcements used for the A Stock) • TFL Rail (Crossrail Class 345) onboard announcements I've also sent my postal address to the FOI email in case the request is accepted

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Our ref: FOI-1244-1920

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 27 July 2019 asking for copies of the London Underground announcements.

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.

A CD containing TfL Rail and some London Underground announcements has been sent to you in the post.

On train announcements for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines have been provided. The Northern line audio files contain historical as well as current announcements. You will note the Piccadilly line announcements are supplied as PCC files which may need specialist software to play them. This format is the only version we currently have available.

Please also note that while the Jubilee and Piccadilly announcements are recorded as full statements specifically for each station, Northern line announcements are recorded as segmented phrases joined into full sentences by the train management system (TMS).

Access to this material will be provided to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you are not granted any rights to any of the intellectual property that exists in it or granted any permission to make secondary uses of it.

TfL owns all intellectual property (including, without limitation, copyright) in the material supplied and will defend such rights.

If you wish to make any secondary use of the material provided, you must first obtain the consent of TfL (which may be withheld) and, if consent is granted, a fee may be charged, in accordance with the terms of the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.

With regards to the London Underground station announcements, and the on train announcements for other lines, we are not obliged to supply these audio files as the information is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2).

In this instance section 43(2) has been applied as disclosure of the information requested would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of TfL and/or the company used to provide the recordings. The recordings in question were provided to London Underground under a signed contracts which contained explicit conditions concerning disclosure and distribution.

These contracts specify that the recordings are solely to be used for the purpose for which they were created and for broadcast on the London Underground network only. If TfL were to disclose these recordings in response to an FOI request, it would constitute an actionable breach of contract and would be likely to result in a valid legal claim against London Underground or the license to use the recordings being withdrawn, which would impose additional, unnecessary, costs. TfL wishes to protect its commercial interests and ability to participate in future commercial activity. The disclosure of this information would be to the detriment of present and future business activities for both parties.

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned.  TfL recognises the need for openness and transparency within public authorities and the degree of public interest concerning London transport announcements in light of the recent disclosure of iBus announcements. However, in this instance this is outweighed by the damage that would be done to TfL’s ability to use these recordings and any future contractual negotiations that may take place regarding the London Underground announcements.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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