Parking Ticket Data

Neil made this Freedom of Information request to Stoke on Trent City Council

The request was refused by Stoke on Trent City Council.

From: Neil

12 August 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I would like to request
some information relating to the enforcement of parking
restrictions, specifically penalty charge notices.

1. I would like to request the raw data set of parking tickets
issued in the name of the council within the last five year period
(22 July 2004 till now) broken down by:
date, time, location, narrative of infraction, current status of
case, next status of case, transaction details (ie. date, time and
method of payments made), officer ID

2. I would also like to request any information regarding
‘reward’/bonus schemes/contracts in place for your parking
enforcement officers. This is envisaged to cover the details of any
systems, including (where bonuses are paid) the amount per officer
per year, for the last five years.

Regarding part 1. ideally I would like the location unit to be
'street' but if this is not practical then under your section 16
duty to advise and assist I would expect you to contact me to
discuss how you record this geospatial data so that I may narrow my
request in a way that works for both of us.

As a supplementary, under section 16, I would also ask that you
provide some detail about the recording processes of this parking
information. E.g. What software is used? What data fields are
recorded? What other data sets it links to, etc.

If this information is held by an outside contractor then it is
your responsibility under the FOIA to obtain that information.

If it is held by another public body then please can you inform me
of this and if possible transfer the request to that public body.
My preferred format to receive this information is by electronic
means. For both parts I would like the response to be in the form
of a raw text file, tab delimited, with text qualifiers where
required.

If you need any clarification of this request or if it is too broad
in any way please feel free to email me. If some parts of this
request
are more difficult to answer than others please release the
answerable material as it is available rather than hold up the
entire request for the contested data.

If FOI requests of a similar nature have already been asked could
you please include your responses to those requests. I would be
grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received
this request, and I look forward to hearing from you within the
20-working day statutory time period.

Yours faithfully,

Neil Houston

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From: Hannah Quinn
Stoke on Trent City Council

13 August 2009

Dear Neil

Your request for information

Thank you for your request for information about parking. Your request was
received on 12th August 2009 and I am dealing with it under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances we may charge for information. If there is a charge
I will let you know as you will have to pay it before we deal with your
request.

Some information does not have to be released under the Freedom of
Information Act. We will check the information you have asked for and send
you as much as possible. If another person or organisation is named in the
information we may have to ask their opinion before we decide what we can
give you.

Please note that we are currently experiencing a high volume of requests
and therefore we would ask politely that you do not contact us regarding
your request unless the statutory deadline has been exceeded or you wish
to modify or withdraw your request. This will enable us to process and
respond to your request as quickly as possible.

If you have any queries about this email please do not hesitate to contact
me.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Quinn

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From: Hannah Quinn
Stoke on Trent City Council

4 September 2009

Dear Neil

Your request for information on parking tickets

We have now considered your request for information and a copy of the
information is below.

1. I would like to request the raw data set of parking tickets issued in
the name of the council within the last five year period (22 July 2004
till now) broken down by: date, time, location, narrative of infraction,
current status of case, next status of case, transaction details (ie.
date, time and method of payments made), officer ID

Stoke-on-Trent City Council does not hold the information requested in a
format that can be extracted. Information can be provided on the Penalty
Charge Notice number, date, time, contravention, location and Civil
Enforcement Officer number. If you would like to receive a copy of this
information, please contact me.

2. I would also like to request any information regarding
‘reward’/bonus schemes/contracts in place for your parking enforcement
officers. This is envisaged to cover the details of any systems, including
(where bonuses are paid) the amount per officer per year, for the last
five years.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council does not and never has offered rewards or
bonus schemes for our civil enforcement staff.

If you have any queries about this email, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to: Louise Kelly, Information Manager, Chief
Executive’s Directorate, Civic Centre Floor 4, Glebe Street, ST4 1HH or
email [1][Stoke on Trent City Council request email].

If, after contacting us, you are not content with the outcome, you may ask
the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information
Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have already used our
appeal procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Quinn

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From: Neil

7 September 2009

Thanks for confirming what information you are able to provide, by
using the 'front end reporting' features of the system you use to
record PCN details.

I would just like to clarify - is it possible that the IT/database
administrator can produce the selected field extract from the
database backend (In my experience, databases often sit on MySQL/MS
SQL/Oracle backends - and the IT/database Administrator of the
system can often extract out information that the systems
'reporting' options don't allow).

If the size of the data extract is too large for it to be
compressed (zipped) and emailed, then I am happy to provide you
with FTP details (the IT contact could transfer the files), or to
receive the data on a CD/DVD. I understand that to produce some
reports in a 'paper' format is not the best for either of us.

Sizewise, the physical number of records will be no issue for me; I
cannot narrow down the request anymore than it already is. (That
being a limited number of fields, by PCN issued, for the 5 year
period).

Obviously if some of the information is not held in the database
(perhaps regarding the payment status etc,) then I would not want
to trouble you by having someone to review the actual case records
(as I understand this would be above and beyond the £450/2.5 day
limit)

Thanks,
Neil

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From: Hannah Quinn
Stoke on Trent City Council

7 September 2009

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, I will be out of the office until
Friday 11th September 2009.

If you wish to make a Freedom of Information request, please send your
request to [Stoke on Trent City Council request email].

For any other Data Protection or Freedom of Information enquiries, please
contact Neil Chadwick on 01782 233386.

All emails will be responded to on my return.

Thank you,

Hannah

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From: Hannah Quinn
Stoke on Trent City Council

11 September 2009

Dear Neil

Your request for information

I can confirm that the information that you have requested is contained on
the database that is used by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. However, as the
database administrator is an external company the City Council would have
to pay £1,500 to retrieve this information which would cause your request
to exceed £450. This amount is called the appropriate limit and is
specified in regulations. When it would cost more than £450 to locate,
retrieve and extract the information that is requested, section 12 of the
Freedom of Information Act allows us to refuse the request.

If you have any queries about this email, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to: Louise Kelly, Information Manager, Chief
Executive’s Directorate, Civic Centre Floor 4, Glebe Street, ST4 1HH or
email [1][Stoke on Trent City Council request email].

If, after contacting us, you are not content with the outcome, you may ask
the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information
Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have already used our
appeal procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Hannah Quinn

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Mike Rawlins left an annotation (28 October 2009)

"However, as the database administrator is an external company the City Council would have to pay £1,500 to retrieve this information which would cause your request to exceed £450."

Rubbish! the council own the data and there should be no charge for retrieval of data which they own.

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Alex Skene left an annotation (28 October 2009)

The FOIA Section 12 £450 Cost Limit is only allowed to be based on a £25/hr basis, and not on actual fees charged. See the following ICO docs:

- Guidance on Fees Regulations: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
- Charging for information: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
- Information held on behalf of a public authority: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
- Information held in a database: http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Stoke on Trent City Council only: