Request ID: FOI-2382-2324 Date published: 26 October 2023
You asked
Details and copies of all documents in TfL possession, whether by way of policy documents, internal emails, memos or otherwise, that record or refer to:
Whether and to the extent to which TfL was aware that it was, or was likely to be unlawful, procedurally improper to issue PCNs in respect of vehicles stationary in red route parking bays on the basis of a record produced by a camera operator and or approved device, and any decision and conclusion of TfL in this respect., etc....
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2328-2324
Thank you for your letter which we received on 29 September 2023, in which you made an FOI request, asking for information about penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued by camera operators. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy
Firstly to confirm, TfL doesn’t not agree with the tribunal ruling, and considers PCNs can be issued in this manner and that the PCN you’ve contested, was correctly issued. TfL followed due process to challenge the decision at the appeal stage and the matter is now subject to a Judicial Review hearing on 26th October 2023, following TfL’s application to challenge the tribunal decision. At the hearing, a high court judge will consider the legal arguments put forward by TfL and the tribunal and provide a ruling.
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 considerably exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request.
There are a number of teams and individuals across TfL who have been involved in the various aspects of the process, and would hold material potentially relevant to your request. In order to track down the specific information you asked for, we would have to run a search of dozens of mailboxes across at least four different teams in TfL, containing a keyword or phrase such as ‘camera operator’, ‘PCNs’ or ‘parking bays’, this would return a vast number of results, all of which would have to be reviewed to see whether they fall within the scope of your request.So it is the excessive work involved in having to manually locate and extract emails and documents that may be relevant to your request, that would be very burdensome and trigger the costs limit.
It is quite possible that we would need to carry out further searches using other terms to ensure that we had captured absolutely everything we hold, which would increase the number of items that we would need to review. It would also be difficult to determine when we could be satisfied that searches for information held in relation to your request have captured everything we hold.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to consider narrowing its scope to focus on the information that is of most importance to you. The narrower and more specific the scope of your request the more likely it is we will be able to respond positively within the costs limit. Please be aware also that the FOI Act pertains to recorded information only. There is no requirement to create new information nor to source information from third parties. In general terms, broad requests asking for copies of all documents or emails we hold on a specific subject often result in the cost limit under FOI being significantly exceeded.
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 do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
