TfL Ref: FOI-2687-2425

Thank you for your request which we received on 20 November 2024, asking for information about PHV drivers.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked for:

1.Drivers Currently Licensed with Six Penalty Points

▪The total number of drivers currently holding a valid TfL PHV licence who have accumulated six penalty points for offences such as IN10 (using a vehicle without insurance).

2.Drivers Licensed After Receiving a CU80 Offence and endorsement of penalty points on their licence

▪The total number of drivers currently holding a valid TfL PHV licence who have accrued six penalty points for CU80 offences (using a mobile phone while driving or similar).

3.Drivers Licensed after given show cause notices and representation opportunities due to CU80

▪The total number of drivers currently holding a valid TfL PHV licence who were given show cause notice and representation opportunity after their CU80 Endorsement came to TFL’s notice.

Whilst TfL may hold some information about penalty points that have been applied to licensees DVLA’s driver licence, complete and accurate details will be held by the DVLA or the Courts.  

Unfortunately, to provide the specific information you have requested about suspension of taxi or PHV drivers’ licences 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 cost over £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.

This information is not recorded in a way that allows for the requested information to be easily extracted. Complete and accurate details regarding how many points are on a drivers’ licence will be held by the DVLA or the Courts. We would only be able to provide information on those drivers whom we hold this information on. As of last week we had 124,417 licensed drivers. We would need to manually review each of the driver files to extract the information you require.

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. For example, you may wish to narrow the timeframe of your request.

If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can. Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

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