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3 year Calibration Costs Gatso Speed Cameras

dennis fallon made this Freedom of Information request to Cheshire West and Chester Council

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From: dennis fallon

26 October 2011

Dear Cheshire West and Chester Council,

I posted a request to Cheshire Police regarding the cost trends for
the calibration of Gatso cameras,but the reply from John
Gannon,Information Compliance, was "As previously advised. This
information is not held by the Cheshire Constabulary, I am advised
that Cheshire West and Chester Council would hold this particular
information".

Accordingly I would like to request the FOI from yourselves.

POINT ONE.
Please confirm the agreed cost of single calibration of one Gatso
Speed Camera for each of the past three years, with the same data
for one Gatso Red Light Camera if any,and a note of any VAT
included, so that comparisons and trends may be appreciated, and an
explanation, if any, of unusual price changes.

I am aware that Serco may have implemented some increases mid-year,
in which case more than one figure will appear for each year,and
accordingly it would be helpful to identify the dates when the
price changes occured.

Please note that this request only relates to the normal standard
calibration cost, with a note of any additional courier costs,and
is exclusive of any additional costs such as spare parts required.

Yours faithfully,

dennis fallon

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From: FOI West
Cheshire West and Chester Council

28 October 2011

Dear Mr Fallon

Thank you for your email. It will be treated as a request within the meaning of the Act: this means that we will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it. If we need any further clarification or there is any problem we will be in touch.

In the meantime if you wish to discuss this further please contact me. It would be helpful if you could quote the log number 66368.

Yours sincerely

Miriam Wallace
FOI Unit
Solutions Team
Cheshire West and Chester Council

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From: FOI West
Cheshire West and Chester Council

23 November 2011

Dear Mr Fallon

Further to your Freedom of Information enquiry, Log Number 66368. I apologise for the delay in sending you a response. This is because we consider that the exemption in Section 43 of the Act (Commercial Interests) may apply to your request and we therefore require more time to consider the public interest test in disclosing the information.

I apologise for the delay and will write to you again shortly to advise you of our decision.

Yours sincerely

Miriam Wallace
FOI Unit - Solutions Team
Cheshire West and Chester Council

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From: dennis fallon

12 December 2011

Dear Ms Wallace,
Thank you for the update dated 23rd November.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon

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From: FOI West
Cheshire West and Chester Council

14 December 2011

Dear Mr Fallon

 

Further to your Freedom of Information request reference 66368 regarding
the cost of the calibration of Gatso Speed and Red Light Cameras for the
last 3 years.  The Council has considered that the exemption under Section
43 of the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to the information you
have requested and I am now able to provide you with the following
response.

 

Please note that Cheshire West and Chester Council process payment on
behalf of the Cheshire Road Safety Group (formerly CSRP) .  The
quotes/orders we receive do not specify whether or not the camera is a
speed or red light camera.

 

The costs are as follows, where more than one price is given for a year I
have put a date next to it in the hope that this will make it a bit
clearer as to when a change took place. The date is taken from the quote.

 

Serco- 2009 2010 2011

Gatso Speed and Red Light
Cameras
Annual Calibration £609 (July) £242 (Feb)* £658 (Jan)

£242 (Nov)* £609 (March) £242* (Feb)

£658 (May) £684 (August)
Courier Cost £27.50 £27.50 £27.50 /      / £30
(Aug)
VAT chargeable Y** Y** Y**

*This price related to a ‘Calibration After Repair Camera’

**The invoice we receive from Serco states that VAT is chargeable, as a
local authority we don’t add the VAT when we process the order.”

 

I trust this answers your enquiry.

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request a review by writing to:

 

Solutions Team

Cheshire West and Chester Council

HQ

58 Nicholas Street

Chester

CH1 2NP

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Website: [1]www.ico.gov.uk

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Miriam Wallace

FOI Unit – Solutions Team

Cheshire West and Chester Council

 

 

 

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From: dennis fallon

14 December 2011

Dear Ms Wallace,

Thank you for releasing the requested information as the public
have no idea of the basic costs of maintaining these systems.

I am trying not to be vexatious as your responses are entirely
satisfactory, but I do find the annual calibration cost of camera
and radar, circa £600, to be very high compared to the £242 charges
relating to after repair calibration.

Obviously there is a reason for these differences and I would
appreciate clarification.I am presuming that either only part of
the unit is calibrated or the annual calibration cost includes some
form of overhead charge built in.

Does the £242 charge mean that only one part of the camera/radar
assembly required calibration, hence the lower charge, or is there
some other explanation?I would have thought that as camera and
radar are part of the same unit they would both need validation.

After repair,is the camera/radar unit returned with a full 12
months calibration or does it inherit the balance of the unexpired
previous calibration?

The maintenance of these cameras is not subject to a competitive
tendering process and I am trying to appreciate how the charges are
justified.

You may treat this as either a new FOI or a request for
clarification, because I have no complaint about the quality of
your disclosures to date.

Yours sincerely,

dennis fallon

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From: FOI West
Cheshire West and Chester Council

15 December 2011

Dear Mr Fallon

Thank you for your email dated 14 December 2011. I have forwarded your further enquiry to the relevant officer and I will respond when I have heard back from them.

Yours sincerely

Caroline Timms
FOI Unit
Cheshire West and Chester Council

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From: FOI West
Cheshire West and Chester Council

11 January 2012

Dear Mr Fallon

Thank you for your further enquiry, I am now able to provide you with a response and apologise for the delay in doing so.

As I explained in my original response to you Cheshire West and Chester Council process payment on behalf of the Cheshire Road Safety Group (formerly CSRP)and were not involved in either commissioning Serco to provide the service or agreeing the costs. Routine maintenance, calibration and repairs of red light cameras; speed cameras; average speed detection equipment; enforcement vehicles and associated IT software/hardware (“Enforcement Equipment”) is the responsibility of the Group. You may therefore wish to contact Cheshire Police directly for this information.

With regard to the amounts for the calibrations, you may wish to contact Serco direct to discuss their charging policies. However I can clarify that the 'cost after repair' relates to the radar and the camera so it is £242 each.

Yours sincerely

Miriam Wallace
FOI Unit - Solutions Team
Cheshire West and Chester Council

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