Our Ref:         FOI-3168-1920

Thank you for your request received on 17 January 2020 asking for information about determination hearings.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and TfL’s information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

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 cost over £925 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take over 37 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.

The reconsideration hearings are chaired by an impartial non-TfL person who has taxi licensing experience – i.e. Mr Ellis or Mr Kennedy. We do not have a central record of when an outcome made was amended following a review.

TfL makes the initial licensing decision, at the hearing the independent chair of the meeting hears the case and recommends an outcome which may differ from the decision TfL has made. TfL will then consider the recommendation and make a final decision. In order to provide the requested information, each of the 149 cases that there have been in the last 24 months would have to be checked manually for the paperwork to determine what the initial decision was, what the recommendation was, and whether it was the same or differed. Sometimes the decision remains the same, or is reversed. It can also be varied - for example a six month suspension could become a four month suspension.

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. 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 Transport for London. 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 smaller period of time.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does 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 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 feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
Senior FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
[email protected]