Complaints about 185 Route

Thank you for your contacting London TravelWatch regarding .Re: Freedom of
Information request - Complaints about 185 Route

We have opened a new case to deal with your enquiry, your reference number
is 204705.

If you have submitted an enquiry, we aim to respond to you within three
working days.

If you are making a complaint, and have not yet contacted the operator, we
will forward your complaint to the appropriate operator.

If you have already contacted the operator, and are unhappy with their
response, we will consider your complaint. We may respond to you direct,
or decide to refer your case to one of the transport companies. We will
usually do this within five working days.

In the meantime, should you need to contact us about this complaint,
please contact the Casework Team on 0207 505 9000 or
[1][email address] making sure you quote .204705.

Regards

London TravelWatch Casework Team

References

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1. https://webmail.tubedale.co.uk/redir.asp... address]

Dear [FOI #26874 email] ,

Further to your recent contact by E-mail , I am writing to inform you that
you have contacted us at our dedicated complaints handling email address.
We do not accept general correspondence at this address.

Having reviewed the correspondence, we consider that your email is neither
a transport complaint nor travel enquiry so we have closed your case, and
it has been marked as closed in our system.

If your contact was for any other purpose than the lodging of a complaint,
please contact us at [1][email address] and we should be
able to deal with your enquiry. If you want advice as to the most
appropriate contact at London TravelWatch please refer to our staff
members*** page on our website or contact reception. As a matter of
policy, we will block any spam emails.

Regards

London TravelWatch

References

Visible links
1. https://webmail.tubedale.co.uk/redir.asp...

Dear Mr Mawson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

I apologise for the delay in dealing with your request which was due to an administrative error at London TravelWatch.

London TravelWatch is the appeals body for transport in and around London and, as such, receives far fewer complaints than the operators. I estimate that during 2008 and 2009 we received about 1,100 complaints about buses in and around London of which some 600 were initial complaints which were forwarded to Transport for London as has they had not been dealt with by the operator. As there are 678 bus routes (and around 100 more in the London area that do not form part of London Buses), it is likely that we have received very few complaints about Route 185 in particular. However, it would be difficult to provide a definite answer to your request without looking at a significant number of these complaints in detail and these complaints are divided between two separate casework databases.

Our complaints handling system tends to categorise complaints by their nature (e.g. complaints about a bus driver or bus shelters, complaints about information or penalty fares) rather than by specific route. Inclusion of the bus route in the database record is optional but would tend to be included where it is relevant to the complaint (e.g. complaint about overcrowding on Route 106).

To provide a definitive response to your Freedom of Information request therefore is likely to exceed the fees limit of £450. Sections 9 and 13 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives public authorities the option to charge for information in accordance with the Fees Regulations (SI 2004/3244). The decision to apply actual costs for information requests in excess of £450 has been taken in the interests of London TravelWatch resources. London TravelWatch does not have to process these requests. It is estimated that it would cost £500 to comply with your request.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

However, in the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act we have decided to do so as long as some costs can be recovered. If you are willing to pay for the prescribed costs and disbursements, please advise accordingly. We will then indicate, by way of a Fees Notice, exactly what these are likely to be and provide you with information relating to payment mechanisms.

Alternatively, you may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the cost to within the "appropriate limit". Please contact me if you would like some advice on refining your request.

If you are not satisfied with the way we have handled your request, or if you are unhappy with our response, you can appeal via our Complaints Procedure which is on our website.

If you are still dissatisfied after pursuing our Complaints Procedure, then under Section 50 of the Act, you are entitled to appeal to the Information Commissioner (Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone: 01625 545700, fax: 01625 524510).

Yours sincerely

Bryan Davey
Director, Public Liaison
[email address]

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