Our Ref:          FOI-2274-1819

Thank you for your request received on 27 November 2018 asking for CCTV footage of manhole explosions.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and TfL’s information access policy.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under 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.

We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take significantly over 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.

Further to my previous response, the majority of our traffic cameras are for monitoring purposes so they do not record footage unless there is a contravention. Also, as previously stated, station camera footage is usually held for 14 days so we would not have footage for the time period requested. In order to determine whether we hold any CCTV footage of manhole explosions we would have to review the footage held from every camera at every station as we do not hold details of what footage may have been captured. As advised previously, whilst the various utility companies may not have CCTV footage, they are likely to hold the other information you have requested.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by Transport for London. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of TfL.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, 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

[email protected]