TfL Ref: 1731-2425, 1735-2425, 1739-2425, 1764-2425, 1765-2425

 

Thank you for your five requests received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 August 2024 asking for information about the Crossrail, DLR, London River Services, London Underground, and Victoria Coach Station Access Control Contracts.

 

Your requests have been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.

 

However, in accordance with 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. Under Regulation 5(2) of the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004, we are permitted to aggregate requests where they relate to any extent to the same or similar information.

 

 We consider that the aggregate cost of complying with your five FOI requests referred to above and in sourcing all the information you have asked for in your 13 questions for each of the five business areas would considerably exceed the cost limit. Therefore we are refusing the above requests.

 

 Further guidance on how to make the best use of the FOI Act is provided on the Information Commissioner’s website at the following link: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information/

 

You will note that the table halfway down that page includes the following advice to FOI applicants:

 

Do….“Give the authority ample opportunity to address any previous requests you have made before submitting new ones”;

Don’t… “Submit frivolous or trivial requests; remember that processing any information request involves some cost to the public purse”;

Don’t… “Disrupt a public authority by the sheer volume of information requested. Whether you are acting alone or in concert with others, this is a clear misuse of the Act and an abuse of your ‘right to know’”, and;

Don’t…”Deliberately ‘fish’ for information by submitting very broad or random requests in the hope it will catch something noteworthy or otherwise useful.”

 

You may be interested in our 'Becoming a Supplier' pages on our website which is available at the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/suppliers-and-contractors/become-a-tfl-supplier.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Officer