Request ID: FOI-1745-2425 Date published: 23 September 2024
You asked
1. Memos/ minutes of meetings/ calculations to determine that an 800% increase for a fine was determined to be both proportionate and reasonable
2. Communications between TFL and London Borough of Bexley regarding providing adequate signage to inform a motorist they are now entering and leaving the ULEZ zone
3. Details of number of complaints made regarding lack of adequate signage of entering or leaving a ULEZ zone
4. Any document including training to determine how and when to apply discretion for appeal of unpaid ULEZ payments
5. Number of appeals successfully upheld due to lack of signage
6. Number of appeals not upheld due to lack of signage later overturned on appeal
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-1745-2425
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 27th August 2024 asking for information about the ULEZ scheme.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“1. Memos/ minutes of meetings/ calculations to determine that an 800% increase for a fine was determined to be both proportionate and reasonable
2. Communications between TFL and London Borough of Bexley regarding providing adequate signage to inform a motorist they are now entering and leaving the ULEZ zone
3. Details of number of complaints made regarding lack of adequate signage of entering or leaving a ULEZ zone
4. Any document including training to determine how and when to apply discretion for appeal of unpaid ULEZ payments
5. Number of appeals successfully upheld due to lack of signage
6. Number of appeals not upheld due to lack of signage later overturned on appeal.”
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. However, I am afraid that it is not possible to source all of the requested information within the costs limit for responding to 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 the requested 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 of the amount of information you have requested and the fact that there is no simple of efficient way of sourcing it. As an example, your question number 3 asks how many complaints we have received “regarding lack of adequate signage of entering or leaving a ULEZ zone”. The ULEZ scheme began in April 2019, meaning this question cover a period of over five years. There is no automated way of filtering the complaints we have received over that period to determine which were about this specific subject. Even it were possible to filter the complaints to those received on the more general theme of ‘signage’, to find the number we have received specifically about a “lack of adequate signage of entering or leaving a ULEZ zone” we would still have to review all of those complaints individually. Given the numbers involved, this would in itself exceed the 18 hour limit. To source the information to address your other questions would take more time still.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may to review it to narrow its scope, focussing on the information that is of most importance to you. You may also wish to note that we publish more general information and data about the ULEZ scheme on our website via the following pages of our website:
