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
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 to ‘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

I write to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Act request.

You can expect to receive a response within 20 working days

Thank You

Sue Marriott
Customer Service Manager - Communication
Basildon District Council
[1][email address]
Tel: (01268) 294264

Neil
<request-15676-e5
[2]236384@whatdothey To
know.com> FOI requests at Basildon District
Council
01/08/2009 10:23 <[3][Basildon District Council request email]>
cc

Subject
Freedom of Information request -
Parking Ticket Data

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
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 to ***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

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Houston

I write to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information enquiry.

This is receiving attention and you can expect a response within 20
working days.

Yours sincerely

Laura Hayward
Information Assistant
Telephone Room
01268 294289
[1][email address]
[2]www.basildon.gov.uk

Neil <[3][FOI #15676 email]>
01/08/2009 10:23

To
FOI requests at Basildon District Council
<[4][Basildon District Council request email]>
cc

Subject
Freedom of Information request - Parking Ticket Data

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
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 to ?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

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Houston

I write in reply to your recent Freedom of Information request (ref
02649187)

We have now received confirmation from the department dealing with your
request of the following :-

Re: Q2 of the request - We do not pay bonuses to staff in any form based
on Penalty Issue levels.

Our software provider is Chipside Ltd.

With regard to data fields recorded this is a standard requirement and
consists of:

Date
Location
Contravention Code
Contravention long description
Vehicle make
Vehicle colour
Vehicle registration mark
Time first seen
Time seen again
Time PCN issued
Time PCN served
How PCN was served (i.e. attached to windscreen or handed to driver etc)
Excise licence number
Excise licence expiry
Pay & display ticket no. (if applicable)
Pay & display ticket expiry (if applicable)
Nearside wheel valve positions (if applicable)
Additional remarks (from a menu of pre-formatted notes i.e No Blue Badge
or note displayed).
Free format notes.

We estimate the cost of complying with the remainder of the request would
exceed the appropriate limit of *450.
The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for local
Government is set at *450.
This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2 working days
in locating, retrieving and extracting the Information.

Yours Sincerely
Peter Samuels
Service Advice Officer

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:-

Ms Sue Marriott
Customer Service Manager * Communication
The Basildon Centre
St Martins Square
Basildon
Essex
SS14 1DL

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by Basildon District Council. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at : The Information Commissioners Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

=========================================================================================================

If you would be kind enough to give us your opinion of the service you
have received from us in connection with this matter, we would be grateful
if you could complete the survey which can be reached by the link below:

[1]http://crtviewpoint.mvisit.net/OnlineSur...

Thank you very much.

==========================================================================================================

Please consider your environmental responsibility before printing this
e-mail

This message does not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies or
procedures of Basildon District Council or its partners and does not give
rise to any contract, undertaking or agreement. eMail is not a secure form
of communication. Every effort has been made to ensure that this message
has been correctly addressed. It and any associated file(s) may contain
privileged or confidential information or details intended only for the
sender and the intended recipient. If this message is received by anyone
other than the intended recipient please delete the message and any
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been received by someone other than the intended recipient. If the subject
line of this email begins PER: then the email is a personal one and is the
personal responsibility of the sender and not Basildon District Council or
its partners.

References

Visible links
1. http://crtviewpoint.mvisit.net/OnlineSur...

Peter,

Thanks for the response thusfar.

I find it hard to believe that a report from the system (which you
acknowledge has the fields requested - bar the payment details),
would take greater than 2 days.

As per section 16, I request the right to clarify that I am happy
to have an extract from the PCN system provided by Chipside Ltd
that covers off the fields that are present in accordance with my
request.

I find it hard to believe that you cannot run a report providing
these selected columns.

Please clarify the position.

Thanks,
Neil

Dear Mr Houston

Thank you for your email. To further explain the Council's position on the
refusal notice issued please be advised that our software supplier has
quoted development time of 1.5 days for this. In addition, depending on
the
format required, I would anticipate that our own involvement would add
another day for the data to be checked for accuracy and format. This
totals
a minimum of 2.5 days to extract the data required and supply it in an
accurate and acceptable format.

During the last 5 years we have issued nearly 46,000 PCN's. To provide
data
on each one as requested would require our software supplier to
interrogate
our system and extract the data and produce it in the required format. A
paper report would be approximately 960 pages long and an electronic
version would depend on the format required (XML etc)

Therefore please accept this is a refusal notice as the request exceeds
the
appropriate limit.

Yours Sincerely

Pete Samuels
Service Advice Centre Officer
Service Advice Centre
Basildon District Council
The Basildon Centre
St Martins Square
Basildon
Essex
SS14 1DL
[1][email address]
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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:-

Ms Sue Marriott
Customer Service manager *** Communication
The Basildon Centre
St Martins Square
Basildon
Essex
SS14 1DL

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO
cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure
provided by Basildon District Council. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at : The Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Neil
<request-15676-e5
[2]236384@whatdothey To
know.com> [3][email address]
cc
04/08/2009 13:12
Subject
Re: Freedom of Information request
- Parking Ticket Data

Peter,

Thanks for the response thusfar.

I find it hard to believe that a report from the system (which you
acknowledge has the fields requested - bar the payment details),
would take greater than 2 days.

As per section 16, I request the right to clarify that I am happy
to have an extract from the PCN system provided by Chipside Ltd
that covers off the fields that are present in accordance with my
request.

I find it hard to believe that you cannot run a report providing
these selected columns.

Please clarify the position.

Thanks, Neil

show quoted sections

Peter,

Please consider this response, as my formal request for an internal
review on this matter.

I specifically requested the data to be produced in a tab, or other
electronic format, (this could mean into CSV, or an Excel file).

To produce these 46K rows, means the provider needs to run a report
to extract the data out of the database.

Can you please confirm that there is no built in custom reporting
function of the software, that allows you to define the columns you
want to review, on a PCN basis? That then allows you to save/export
into an appropriate format?

Under the FOI guidelines the 2.5 Day limit is mentioned, and I
believe that this can be accomplished within this time frame.

Thanks,
Neil

Dear Mr Houston,

I write to acknowledge your request for an Internal Review of your recent
request made under the Freedom of Information Act.
This has been passed onto Ms Sue Marriott our Customer Service Manager -
Communication, to investigate fully.

You can expect a response within 10 working days.

Yours Sincerely

Pete Samuels
Service Advice Centre Officer
Service Advice Centre
Basildon District Council
The Basildon Centre
St Martins Square
Basildon
Essex
SS14 1DL
[1][email address]

Neil
<request-15676-e5
[2]236384@whatdothey To
know.com> [3][email address]
cc
05/08/2009 14:11
Subject
Internal review of Freedom of
Information request - Parking
Ticket Data

Peter,

Please consider this response, as my formal request for an internal
review on this matter.

I specifically requested the data to be produced in a tab, or other
electronic format, (this could mean into CSV, or an Excel file).

To produce these 46K rows, means the provider needs to run a report
to extract the data out of the database.

Can you please confirm that there is no built in custom reporting
function of the software, that allows you to define the columns you
want to review, on a PCN basis? That then allows you to save/export
into an appropriate format?

Under the FOI guidelines the 2.5 Day limit is mentioned, and I
believe that this can be accomplished within this time frame.

Thanks, Neil

show quoted sections

Dear Sir

Thank you for your request for an internal review of the refusal of this
request due it exceeding the appropriate limit. I have carried out a
review and can confirm the following:

I am sorry that we are not able to supply this information, this is due to
the reasons explained in my colleague Peter Samuels previous emails. There
is no built-in reporting system which allows us to supply this
information.

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by Basildon District Council. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at : The Information
Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF.

Yours sincerely

Sue Marriott
Customer Service Manager - Communication
Basildon District Council
[1][email address]
Tel: (01268) 294264

show quoted sections

Sue,

Obviously I do not wish to go down the ICO route, like you say
until we exhaust every avenue.

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

Dear Neil

Thank you for your email.

I am trying to get you whatever information we can within the appropriate
limit, and will get back to you as soon as I have spoken with my
colleague.

Kind Regards

Sue Marriott
Customer Service Manager - Communication
Basildon District Council
[1][email address]
Tel: (01268) 294264

Neil
<request-15676-e5
[2]236384@whatdothey To
know.com> [3][email address]
cc
09/08/2009 10:43
Subject
Re: Freedom of Information request
- Parking Ticket Data

Sue,

Obviously I do not wish to go down the ICO route, like you say
until we exhaust every avenue.

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

show quoted sections