London Underground station announcements three tone jingle sound
Request ID: FOI-2314-2324 Date published: 24 October 2023
You asked
There is a three tone jingle sound that plays every time before the automated announcement announcing the train plays at Oval station. So you get a three tone jingle sound and then the automated announcement plays. I have only noticed this at Oval as most other stations have no jingle or anything that plays before the automated announcement. Oval has the same announcements as every other station but for some reason this station also has a jingle.
Under the FOI Act i would like to request the sound file of this three tone jingle sound please. If you could attach it in MP3 or WAV format that would be great. I believe you should be able to access this file easily. I presume it should be stored within the LU station announcements sound files. Also note that i am only asking for this three tone jingle sound. I am not asking for any of the actual station announcement sound files
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2314-2324
Thank you for your request which we received on 27 September 2023, asking for an audio file of a three tone jingle at Oval station.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
You may be interested to know that since September 2021, we have been able to make the majority of our announcements across the full TfL network, that we are permitted to release, available to individuals on request via allowing them access to a ShareFile folder. All of the audio announcements that we are currently permitted to release are accessible via this site. The folder is updated periodically with any new announcements, however this is balanced with our other business needs.
If you would like to be granted access, please provide me with your personal email address, so that we can send you a link enabling you to access the ShareFile folder.
Unfortunately, we are refusing your current request under section 14(1) of the FOI Act. We consider that answering your request would represent a disproportionate effort and would require the redirection of limited specialist resources and the attention of staff away from their core functions who could be supporting other essential activity.
We would have to tie up our resources in working out whether this specific sound file is included in the published list on the ShareFile and, if it isn’t, we would have to locate it and then determine under what agreement it was provided to TfL to ensure there were no restrictions against disclosure, as you know is the case with some of the London Underground announcements.
We do wish to clarify that whilst we consider that your request falls under section 14(1) of the FOI Act, this does not reflect a conclusion that it has been your intention to place an undue burden on our resources. On the specific application of section 14(1) we have been steered by the ICO guidance on the use of that exemption that can be found on its website here:https://ico.org.uk/media/1198/dealing-with-vexatious-requests.pdf
In particular, we consider the following indicators of section 14(1) have been central to our decision to apply the exemption;
“Burden on the authority: the effort required to meet the request will be so grossly oppressive in terms of the strain on time and resources, that the authority cannot reasonably be expected to comply, no matter how legitimate the subject matter or valid the intentions of the requester”; “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.”
While your request no doubt relates to matters that are of a personal interest, we consider this to be a disproportionate burden and disruption to our colleagues across the organisation and we cannot justify the use of our resources for a request that we do not consider to carry any wider public interest.
Please be assured that our application of the section 14 exemption does not reflect a conclusion that it has been your deliberate intention to place an undue burden on TfL, and we will consider any future request for information on its merits and in accordance with the requirements of the FOI Act and the expectations of the ICO. However, in making any future request I would ask that you consider carefully what information is of most importance to you, and to take into account the guidance and advice provided by the ICO on how best to access information from public bodies, such as the “dos and don’ts” published on its website here: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information/
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
