Request ID: FOI-1997-2324 Date published: 13 October 2023
You asked
Dear Sirs
Today I witnessed at least 7 staff and officers at Southgate station ensuring that no-one would push through the barriers without paying One fellow hung around till they left and afterwards between 4.15 and
4.20 pm I witnessed 2 people pushing through the barriers. On previous occasions I have stopped 2 miscreants trying citizens arrest then gave up. TFL staff must not interfere.
Under the FOI act please advise the costs and man hours of the tfl police for this exercise today and the yearly costs of this force and the estimated costs of lost fares _At Cockfosters,Southgate Arnos Grove and Green park having looked at the log books it works out at over 2000 lost fares a week . It is even worse on DLR.
TFL management has a lot to answer for as "It would cost too much to re-inforce the barriers or add another barrier" as in many uk rail and French underground stations.
Also under the FOI act-, the TFL 20mph adverts- please advise the costs and what would be the real statistics if Pre Covid mileage was compared to covid mileage For over 20 years I have been asking that the lighting at stations be switched off in bright sunlight thus saving electricity and elongating the bulbs life but- not our money so why care!
Also the Chinese wheel fiasco and sacking contractors on picadilly line leading to 2nd class wheels and cabling being inadequate followed by re-ordering and increase in cable thefts -not our money? Same with the pedestrian bridge across the North Circular Southgate and many problems that I have found but to no avail.
They spend our money but no-one is responsible When will TFL be run properly and stop requesting taxpayers money
Clarification received 16/09/2023 (re the 20mph adverts data): You state in this advert a comparison on saving lives is based on an adjusted statistic . That I cannot understand thus I ask that comparisons be properly stated and not compare apples to oranges.
Thank you for your five requests which have been processed in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you have requested.
However, we are refusing your requests under section 14(1) of the FOI Act which provides an exemption to the disclosure of information where answering requests imposes a disproportionate burden on our resources.
In reaching this conclusion we have drawn on guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) that can be found on its website here:
This guidance includes the following advice to public authorities:
“Section 14(1) is designed to protect public authorities by allowing them to refuse any request which have the potential to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress”.
“The information Commissioner recognises that dealing with unreasonable requests can place a strain on resources and get in the way of delivering mainstream services or answering legitimate requests.”
“Disproportionate effort: the matter being pursued by the requester is relatively trivial and the authority would have to extend a disproportionate amount of resources in order to meet the request.”
Our principal duty is to provide an effective transport service for London and we consider that answering your requests would represent a disproportionate effort. It would be a significant distraction from our work managing the TfL network, requiring re-allocation of already limited resources and placing an unacceptable burden on a small number of personnel in repeatedly revisiting and addressing issues which have been covered in previous communications.
We suggest that, before submitting future requests, you consider which information is of the highest priority to ensure that the processing time available is spent on the information that is of most importance to you, allowing public authorities an opportunity to answer requests before new requests are submitted on the same or similar subject. Please also take into account the guidance and advice provided by the ICO such as the “dos and don’ts” published on its website here: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information/ which will help you ensure you are able to make the best use of the FOI Act.
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