Angela Harvey and Cyclists

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Westminster City Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Westminster City Council,

In an article on the London Evening Standard website (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/a...), Angela Harvey, chairman of Westminster's scrutiny committee said: “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leave them on the ground as they ride away."

Please answer the following:

1)How many incidents have there been of "little old ladies" being knocked down by cyclists in Westminster since 2007? I am only interested in incidents with "little old ladies".

2)From the answer you give in question one, out of these, how many of these incidents were recorded where the cyclist rode away without offering help. I believe this type of incident is called a "hit & run".

3) Please indicate what Angela means by always? Does she mean an incident reported by "a little old lady" everyday, every second, every hour, every minute, every week, every month, or every year?

Yours faithfully,

Ben Tweedy

Westminster City Council

Confirmation of Freedom Of Information Request

Thank you for your request for information.

Your request details have now been recorded and will be passed on to the
appropriate Divisional Records Officer for action.

This Freedom Of Information Request was based on the following
information:

Name: Ben Tweedy
Address: See email address
Email: [FOI #24341 email]
Telephone:
Request Details: In an article on the London Evening Standard website
(http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/a...),
Angela Harvey, chairman of Westminster's scrutiny committee said:
“We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and
abused by a cyclist, who leave them on the ground as they ride
away."

Please answer the following:

1)How many incidents have there been of "little old ladies" being
knocked down by cyclists in Westminster since 2007? I am only
interested in incidents with "little old ladies".

2)From the answer you give in question one, out of these, how many
of these incidents were recorded where the cyclist rode away
without offering help. I believe this type of incident is called a
"hit & run".

3) Please indicate what Angela means by always? Does she mean an
incident reported by "a little old lady" everyday, every second,
every hour, every minute, every week, every month, or every year?

FOI Reference Number: 4708
Target Completion Date: 07/01/2010

Please do not reply to this email.
This is an automatic response to your request, and replies to this message
will not be actioned.

If you need to contact Westminster City Council regarding your request,
please contact:

mailto:[Westminster City Council request email]
Tel:020 7641 3921

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Clifton, Richard, Westminster City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Tweedy

Please find attached a response to your recent enquiry under the Freedom
of Information Act.

Richard Clifton
Support Manager
020 7641 2520
<<FOI template.doc>>

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Lucy Adams left an annotation ()

Is it possible to find out if the use of the word 'mis-conflation' is a euphemism for political spin?

Dear Richard Clifton,

Thank you for the detailed information you've provided. I do have a few follow up questions regarding the information given.

1) As you mentioned, there is no evidence on the gender or size/height of the person(s) who were injured by cyclists. Could you please explain how Angela Harvey can use he term "little old ladies" to describe this group when there is no evidence on gender or size/height.

2) Can you please explain how Angela Harvey can use the term "always" in her statement “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leaves them on the ground as they ride away” when there have only been 8 reported incidents between the period of 01/07/2006 to 31/08/2009.

3) Can you please provide me with the evidence of hit and run incidents that was presented to the Built Environment Committee.

4) Can you please explain what you mean when you say "Cllr Harvey believes that the quotation you've mentioned “We're always getting little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leaves them on the ground as they ride away” is a mis-conflation of a number of comments made when relating to incidents described by Westminster residents." I am most interested in your use of the word "mis-conflation" as i cannot find a definition for it. My understanding of the definition of the word "conflation" is "To bring things together and fuse them into a single entity" which doesn't make any sense in the context you/Angela Harvey have used it in. I ask this as the same quote from Cllr Angela Harvey (using the word "always") has been used in a number of other articles, including one in the Telegraph which can be found here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6...

Yours sincerely,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Westminster City Council,

I'm still waiting for a response to this FOI, even after the 20 day limit has passed. You are now breaking the law. Please answer at your earliest opportunity.

Many Thanks,

Ben Tweedy

Westminster City Council

Confirmation of Freedom Of Information Request

Thank you for your request for information.

Your request details have now been recorded and will be passed on to the
appropriate Divisional Records Officer for action.

This Freedom Of Information Request was based on the following
information:

Name: Ben Tweedy
Address: See email address
Email: [FOI #24341 email]
Telephone:
Request Details: 1) As you mentioned, there is no evidence on the gender
or
size/height of the person(s) who were injured by cyclists. Could
you please explain how Angela Harvey can use he term "little old
ladies" to describe this group when there is no evidence on gender
or size/height.

2) Can you please explain how Angela Harvey can use the term
"always" in her statement “We're always getting little old ladies
who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who leaves them on
the ground as they ride away” when there have only been 8 reported
incidents between the period of 01/07/2006 to 31/08/2009.

3) Can you please provide me with the evidence of hit and run
incidents that was presented to the Built Environment Committee.

4) Can you please explain what you mean when you say "Cllr Harvey
believes that the quotation you've mentioned “We're always getting
little old ladies who are knocked down and abused by a cyclist, who
leaves them on the ground as they ride away” is a mis-conflation of
a number of comments made when relating to incidents described by
Westminster residents." I am most interested in your use of the
word "mis-conflation" as i cannot find a definition for it. My
understanding of the definition of the word "conflation" is "To
bring things together and fuse them into a single entity" which
doesn't make any sense in the context you/Angela Harvey have used
it in. I ask this as the same quote from Cllr Angela Harvey (using
the word "always") has been used in a number of other articles,
including one in the Telegraph which can be found here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6...

FOI Reference Number: 4890
Target Completion Date: 04/02/2010

Please do not reply to this email.
This is an automatic response to your request, and replies to this message
will not be actioned.

If you need to contact Westminster City Council regarding your request,
please contact:

mailto:[Westminster City Council request email]
Tel:020 7641 3921

show quoted sections

FOI, Westminster City Council

Dear Mr Tweedy,

Having looked into your query I note that the email you sent on the 7th
January contained additional questions to those raised in your original
request. I have, therefore, logged this as a new request and you will
receive an acknowledgement under a separate cover.

Yours sincerely,

Tanya Holden
Data Protection & FOI Officer
Knowledge and Information Management
Westminster City Council
101 Orchardson Street
London, NW8 8EA
Tel: 0207 641 6451
Fax: 0207 641 2872
Email: [Westminster City Council request email]
[1]www.westminster.gov.uk

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FOI, Westminster City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Tweedy,

Thank you for your recent request submitted to the Council under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

<<Response Letter - Tweedy FOI 4890.doc>>

Please find our response attached.

Tanya Holden
Data Protection & FOI Officer
Knowledge and Information Management
Westminster City Council
101 Orchardson Street
London, NW8 8EA
Tel: 0207 641 6451
Fax: 0207 641 2872
Email: [Westminster City Council request email]
[1]www.westminster.gov.uk

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. file://www.westminster.gov.uk

Dear Tanya,

Thanks for your response, however you haven't provided the link you mentioned and have failed to answer question 4.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Tanya,

Apologies, please ignore my last email. I have found the link on the word.doc rather than the html page that the whatdotheyknow website provide.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Tweedy

Dr Trustme left an annotation ()

So where is the answer to question 4?