TfL Ref: 2535-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 February 2022 asking for information about automated announcements.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked for the following:
1. Can you attach the sound files of these automated announcements voiced by Pauline Cavilla from this system. I understand that your current station announcement system (voiced by Elinor Hamilton) is exempt from being released. However this is an older discontinued ex Metronet BCV system which i believe may be provided by a different company and the announcements have all been removed. So i believe you can provide these old automated announcements.
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.
2. Can you attach the scripts from this automated announcement system too.
Please find attached the requested scripts.
In accordance with our obligations under Data Protection legislation some information in the attached files has been withheld, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle of Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’. This exemption to the right of access to information is an absolute exemption and not subject to an assessment of whether the public interest favours use of the exemption.
3. Can you advise when exactly this system was replaced (just the month and year is fine - i do not need the exact date if you do not have it - i am sure that it was either 2018 or 2019 it got replaced if i am remembering correctly)?
4. What was your reason for replacing this system (with the standard system voiced by Elinor Hamilton that was already used at the stations on all other lines)? Like was it to save costs? Or the system was unreliable? Or what reason?
5. Finally can you please confirm the name of which company provided this automated announcement system.
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. This is because it would take a considerable amount of time to review, extract and analyse material and documentation that would be filed, which goes back several years in time to fulfil your request. The information you seek is not held on a single central system that we can simply access and locate the answers. If held, it will likely be held on an local shared folder or on a individuals computer - this is assuming that individuals who would have the information still work for TfL as this information could go back many years. 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 beyond your own interest.
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. The framing of your questions naturally casts a wide net and it is a far better use of the resources available to you under the FOI Act to be as narrow and specific as you are able to allow a focused search for the information you are interested in and allow us to assist you.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for LondonTfL Ref: 2535-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 February 2022 asking for information about automated announcements.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked for the following:
1. Can you attach the sound files of these automated announcements voiced by Pauline Cavilla from this system. I understand that your current station announcement system (voiced by Elinor Hamilton) is exempt from being released. However this is an older discontinued ex Metronet BCV system which i believe may be provided by a different company and the announcements have all been removed. So i believe you can provide these old automated announcements.
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.
2. Can you attach the scripts from this automated announcement system too.
Please find attached the requested scripts.
In accordance with our obligations under Data Protection legislation some information in the attached files has been withheld, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the legislation, specifically the first principle of Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions which would make the processing ‘fair’. This exemption to the right of access to information is an absolute exemption and not subject to an assessment of whether the public interest favours use of the exemption.
3. Can you advise when exactly this system was replaced (just the month and year is fine - i do not need the exact date if you do not have it - i am sure that it was either 2018 or 2019 it got replaced if i am remembering correctly)?
4. What was your reason for replacing this system (with the standard system voiced by Elinor Hamilton that was already used at the stations on all other lines)? Like was it to save costs? Or the system was unreliable? Or what reason?
5. Finally can you please confirm the name of which company provided this automated announcement system.
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. This is because it would take a considerable amount of time to review, extract and analyse material and documentation that would be filed, which goes back several years in time to fulfil your request. The information you seek is not held on a single central system that we can simply access and locate the answers. If held, it will likely be held on an local shared folder or on a individuals computer - this is assuming that individuals who would have the information still work for TfL as this information could go back many years. 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 beyond your own interest.
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. The framing of your questions naturally casts a wide net and it is a far better use of the resources available to you under the FOI Act to be as narrow and specific as you are able to allow a focused search for the information you are interested in and allow us to assist you.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
