Our Ref:         FOI-3862-1920 / FOI-3892-11920

Thank you for your requests received on 14 and March 2020 asking for information about two specific individuals.

Your requests have been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

However, your requests are being refused under section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, which provides an exemption to the disclosure of information where a request is considered to be ‘vexatious’. In reaching this conclusion we have drawn on guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), both in relation to the specific application of section 14 and in relation to FOI-handling more generally.

On the specific application of section 14(1) we have been steered by the ICO guidance on the use of that exemption that can be found on its website here:

https://ico.org.uk/media/1198/dealing-with-vexatious-requests.pdf

In our view your requests are designed solely to pursue a relatively trivial and highly personalised matter of little if any benefit to the wider public. There is no apparent purpose or value underlying your requests other than that they appear to be designed to harass individuals and are an abuse of the Act. It is unclear to what extent a wider public interest would be served by diverting our resources from their core functions to process your requests and therefore we consider it not to be a justified and proportionate use of resources.

For the reasons set out above, we consider that the exemption set out in section 14 of the FOI Act applies to your requests.

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]