Request ID: FOI-1958-2122 Date published: 17 March 2022
You asked
May we please request, pursuant to the FOIA, copies of all decision notifications Transport for London has sent to Uber, Bolt, FREE NOW (previously Kapten), Addison Lee and Ola during the period of 2016-2021, informing these operators of (i) whether they have been granted or refused a Private Hire Operator licence, or any other form of licence, and (ii) the reasons for this decision. We would be grateful for your earliest response.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-1958-2122
Thank you for your request received on 30 November 2021 asking for information about licences granted by TfL. I apologise for the delay in my response.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked for:
Copies of all decision notifications Transport for London has sent to Uber, Bolt, FREE NOW (previously Kapten), Addison Lee and Ola during the period of 2016-2021, informing these operators of (i) whether they have been granted or refused a Private Hire Operator licence, or any other form of licence, and (ii) the reasons for this decision
Please find the requested information below and attached, the decisions notices contain information on whether the licence was granted and the reasons for this decision.
Uber
September 2017 - TfL refuses to renew the licence
June 2018 - Chief Magistrate allows ULL appeal and grants 15-month licence (available online)
July 2019 – Uber London Limited (ULL) applies to renew licence
September 2019 - TfL grants ULL a 2-month licence as ‘unable to resolve 2 questions’
November 2019 - TfL refuses to renew licence, ‘the November decision’ (available online)
September 2020 - Chief Magistrate allows ULL appeal and grants 18-month licence (available online)
A copy of each of the decisions as detailed above is available on our website:
Please see the attached document titled ‘Ola_Redacted’ for a copy of the first document.
In accordance with the FOI Act we have redacted some information on the operator as this is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2) of the FOI Act.
In this instance section 43(2) exemption has been applied to information contained within the documents regarding the operator’s operating model as well as information on the number of vehicles registered with the operators could prejudice their commercial interests. Disclosure of this information would enable their competitors to have an insight into their internal operations and technical information relating to their business model and provide other operators with an unfair competitive advantage. Additionally, allowing their competitors to calculate the size of an operator’s fleet could undermine their position in the competitive market place.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, but in this instance feel that the balance lies in favour of withholding the information to ensure that private hire operators can continue to be able to operate effectively without being placed at a commercial disadvantage. Please refer to the Decision Notice issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office for further details regarding information on operator’s fleet numbers: https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/decision-notices/2017/2172517/fs50676040.pdf.
In addition, in accordance with our obligations under Data Protection legislation some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle of Article 5 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’.
This exemption to the right of access to information is an absolute exemption and not subject to an assessment of whether the public interest favours use of the exemption.
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.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob Senior FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
