Pauline Cavilla voiced London Underground station platform automated announcements sound files recordings
Request ID: FOI-2420-2223 Date published: 25 January 2023
You asked
Dear Transport for London,
Dear sir or madam.
I recently made this request here a couple of months ago asking for the sound files of the Pauline Cavilla voiced London Underground station platform automated announcements:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/pauline_cavilla_voiced_london_un
These are the announcements that were used at most BCV/SSL managed stations from 2011 until 2018 when you replaced them with the standard Elinor Hamilton voiced ones that were already used at most JNP managed stations.
But these Pauline Cavilla voiced announcements recently returned to Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate stations a few months ago.
The scripts go like this:
~Next Train Announcement~
• "Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will arrive in one minute. It will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping."
~Approaching Train Announcement~
• "Ladies and gentlemen. The next train will be a Central Line service calling at all stations to Epping. Ladies and gentlemen. Please stand behind the yellow line as the train approaches. Use the full length of the platform. And let customers off the train first."
I think there should be a couple hundred sound files in total for these announcements as there will be lots of individual recordings.
You originally replied to my request and then an internal review where you refused them. You used S43(2) to refuse it stating that releasing them would likely to prejudice the commercial interests of TFL. However the grounds that you used for this was that due to the age of the announcements you were unable to confirm what company they were produced by. So you used it as you did not know who produced them.
However since my last request i have done some research and contacted some people and companies and discovered that these announcements were recorded and provided by a company called Dammit back in 2011. I have made some emails and received confirmation regarding this and been shown a document to confirm this. So these announcements were produced for you by a company called Dammit back in 2011.
This is the website of the company that you used:
http://dammit.co.uk/dammit-ltd-audio-for-multi-media-and-i-t/#
So with this new information i would like to make a brand new fresh request. As when you refused my previous request for these sound files you were only using S43(2) because you were unable to identify what company provided these announcements for you so there was a risk of prejudice to commercial interests.
But i believe with this new information you will be able to process a new fresh request as the information on who provided these should enable you to release them. I know the Global Radio Services Limited announcements are exempt from disclosure under S43(2) but i believe you have released most of your other announcements so hopefully you should be able to release these too as these are not Global Radio Services Limited and with the information i provided you can now verify who provided them for you. Now you know the company name is Dammit you should be able to verify that Dammit provided them and you should be able to release them.
So i would just like to request copies of all of the sound files of the Pauline Cavilla voiced London Underground station platform automated announcements (not to be confused with the much more commonly used Elinor Hamilton ones) and you can provide it in MP3 or WAV or ZIP or whatever you have.
Thank you for your help and wishing you and everyone at the FOI department of TFL a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2023.
Many thanks.
We answered
TfL Ref: 2420-2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 23 December 2022 asking for information about the sound files of the Pauline Cavilla voiced London Underground station platform automated announcements and the associated contract, following your previous request for information, TfL Reference: 1651-2223.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. You asked for:
copies of all of the sound files of the Pauline Cavilla voiced London Underground station platform automated announcements (not to be confused with the much more commonly used Elinor Hamilton ones) and you can provide it in MP3 or WAV or ZIP or whatever you have.
We would like to advise that all of the London Underground announcements we are able to provide are included on the ShareFile site. In order to access these files, please contact us directly from a personal email address because we are unable to provide them via this website. Please quote the above reference number and we will process your request accordingly.
You originally replied to my request and then an internal review where you refused them. You used S43(2) to refuse it stating that releasing them would likely to prejudice the commercial interests of TFL. However the grounds that you used for this was that due to the age of the announcements you were unable to confirm what company they were produced by. So you used it as you did not know who produced them.
We have undertaken an exhaustive search of our records in an attempt to locate the contract you have referred to but without any success. This process has already taken up considerable resource and we cannot justify the provision of additional resource to divert from their core functions to work on this request. As you know, significant time, effort and resource has already gone into making as many of the audio announcements as accessible as possible and we appreciate there is an interest amongst enthusiasts. However, we consider that expending further resource on trying to locate the relevant contract (which may even no longer be held) to then determine what limitations or restrictions on disclosure may apply in order to fully process this request is disproportionate to the benefit of fulfilling the request, given the distraction it would provide to a limited number of specialist personnel.
For this reason we are refusing this element of your request in accordance with section 14(1) of the FOI Act. We have looked through our supplier/contract records as best as we can and have found no records in either our current or legacy file registers of a company called Dammit against any of our systems. As we have been unable to locate a copy of this agreement, we are therefore unable to verify the contents of this contract, especially in regards to providing permission to supply these audio announcements. We have approximately 5000 individual contracts that we would need to search through as well as records that may be held on other files.
Our principal duty is to provide an effective transport service for London, 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 to provide information that has little value to the wider public.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Jasmine Howard FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
