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.
Please see attached for details of your right to appeal.
