TfL Ref: 2893-1819

Thank you for your email received by us on 29 January 2019 asking for information about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued to bus drivers relating to contraventions in white zigzag locations.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. You asked for:

the number of bus drivers who have been penalised for waiting within in the exit side white zig zag lines of a crossing in the last 5 years in London ("London" in this case being TfL's operational jurisdiction)

If this information can be presented to me in yearly figures for the last 5 years it would be appreciated.

Unfortunately we do not hold the information you have requested. I can advise that when we issue PCNs to vehicles that ‘stopped on a pedestrian crossing or crossing area marked by zigzags’, we take into account the exemptions laid out in The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997. However, we do not record the type of vehicle that the PCN is issued to.

Furthermore, we can only provide PCN data from 2015 due to changing to a new system. In the last three years, we have issued 9,316 PCNs for zigzag contraventions. We would have to check the CCTV of images attached to each PCN to identify the vehicle type and if it was stopped on the exit side of the crossing. We estimate this would take a minimum of two minutes per PCN, which would considerably 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.

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, we could identify within the cost-limit approximately 540 PCNs issued to bus companies that operate bus services under contract to Transport for London. However, we would still need to review these images to extract the information requested.

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, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

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

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London