Communication between food delivery app platforms and TFL for road safety charter
Request ID: FOI-4441-2324 Date published: 03 April 2024
You asked
I request
- copies of all communications between TFL and the food delivery platforms Deliveroo, Stuart, Just Eat and Uber eats in regards to road safety
- minutes of any meetings with the same companies in regards to road safety
- minutes of any forums between TFL and the companies on road safety
- information on any metrics or performance review standards that companies agreed to provide
Clarification received 07/03/2024: Thank you for your response. I am requesting information more specifically regarding the events that led to the creation of the meal and grocery delivery motorcycle road safety charter - https://content.tfl.gov.uk/meal-and-grocery-delivery-company-motorcycle-road-safety-charter-acc.pdf
I request:
- copies of any communications between TFL and the food delivery platforms Deliveroo, Stuart, Just Eat, Getir, and Uber eats in regards to the Motorcycle Road Safety Charter from September 2022 up to its publication in September 2023
- minutes of any meetings with the same companies in regards to road safety from September 2022 up to the charter's publication in September 2023
- minutes of any forums between TFL and the same companies on road safety between September 2022 up to the charter's publication in September 2023
- information on any metrics or performance review standards that the stated companies agreed to provide from henceforth
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-4441-2324 Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 29th February 2024 asking for information about TfL communications with food delivery companies. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. Specifically you asked: “I request - copies of all communications between TFL and the food delivery platforms Deliveroo, Stuart, Just Eat and Uber eats in regards to road safety - minutes of any meetings with the same companies in regards to road safety - minutes of any forums between TFL and the companies on road safety - information on any metrics or performance review standards that companies agreed to provide.” I can confirm that we hold the information you require. However, your request is being refused under section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act because of the disproportionate amount of resource that would have to be expended to provide all of the information requested. For example, in relation to the first question alone, asking for “copies of all communications...”, we have conducted an automated search of relevant email accounts for messages sent to any of the listed companies. This has returned 681 “hits”. A further search using the specific keyword “charter” produced 642 hits. It would present a significant burden to manually review all of this material to check for relevance, to consider whether any of the contents are exempt for any reason, and to then redact the exempt material (and there will invariably be material that is exempt and needs redacting, such as the names and contact details of external staff, which would be exempt from release under the section 40 ‘personal data’ exemption). This in itself is enough for the section 14 exemption to apply (see here for a detailed account of the exemption – as you can see, the exemption can be used to protect public authorities’ resources from unreasonable requests), but obviously addressing your other questions would add to the burden further, adding greater weight to the application of the exemption. Should you wish to refine your request to narrow its scope and focus on the material that is of most importance to you then we will consider it accordingly. In doing so, you may wish to review the advice published by the Information Commissioner on how best to access information from public bodies, which can be found here. The more specific your request the more likely it is we will be able to respond positively and we recommend framing your requests around specific questions rather than broad requests for correspondence due to the burden these requests can create. Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal. Yours sincerely, David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
