Westminster Calculations

Dear Sir or Madam,

On the Westminster City Council website, you state "If you park
regularly in Westminster, you should consider purchasing one of our
permits. It costs the equivalent of less than 31p per day to park
if you purchase an annual permit (based on 305 chargeable days per
year), which at £100 is the equivalent of paying £1 each charging
day for 100 days."

For your reference, this statement is available at
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/t...

Now, i'm no maths whizz, and i only got a grade C at GCSE level
maths, but with my trusty calculator to hand, i've worked out that
100 (cost in pounds of an annual parking permit) divided by 305
(chargeable days per year) works out to be 0.3278688 which in real
money is 33 pence. I have done this calculation more than once and
even done it on my mate Dave's calculator just in case mine wasn't
working properly, yet it still comes back with the number of
0.3278688 which is 33 pence.

I find this astonishing, as from previous FOI request's I know that
Westminster City Council's Parking Department calculations are
usually 100% correct.

So here is the FOI request..

1) Please explain how you came to a cost of "less than 31p per
day"?

Yours faithfully,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Sir or Madam,

It appears that you have sent your reply to my FOI request (FOI
Reference Number: 4422) to a Mr Sawyer (FOI Reference Number:
4422). Please correct this and send your reply to my FOI request at
your earliest opportunity.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Customer Relations,

Thank you for your reply. I note that you say "in fact, the cost to
park per day is an estimated 32 pence per day". Are you sure?
Because the calculation of £100 divided by 305 is 0.3278688. As you
may or may not be aware, the lowest denomination of coinage in the
UK is 1 pence. 1 pence cannot be split into points of a pence so
you would therefore have to round up to the nearest pence which
would be 33 pence not 32 pence as you have stated. If the cost per
day of an annual parking permit in Westminster is indeed 32 pence
per day, then why are you charging £100 for this when at your cost
of 32 pence per day it should be £97.60?
This is basic maths, taught at a young age, and i am shocked (if
not surprised) that you can get this so incredibly wrong. But you
have failed to answer my original question which was..

1)Please explain how you came to a cost of "less than 31p per day"?

I can see that it's wrong, and thanks for telling me it is, but the
question i asked is how you came to that figure. Was it guess work?
Or are you purposefully trying to mislead the public? Or are you
just lazy? Or are you just really really bad at basic maths?

Further to this FOI request, i would like to add some additional
questions, as follows, for clarification. I have included the
original question which you have failed to answer with these.

1)Please explain how you came to a cost of "less than 31p per day"?

2)Who made this calculation?

3)Did they use a calculator?

4)Who wrote the entire FAQ section where your maths error is?
(http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/t...)

5)Who, if anyone, checked over this FAQ section before it was
uploaded to your website?

6) Even though i have pointed out your error, it still remains
unchanged in your FAQ section of your website. When will this error
be corrected?

7) Is basic maths a skill required to work for Westminster City
Councils parking department?

8) What steps will be taken to ensure that obvious mathematical
errors are not uploaded to your website in the future?

9) Can i buy an annual motorcycle parking permit at the rate of 32
pence per chargeable day as you have stated, which would be £97.60
per annum?

10) Can you confirm that you do not wish to revise your original
statement which was "in fact, the cost to park per day is an
estimated 32 pence per day?"

I look forward to your prompt response.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Sir or Madam,

It appears you have not acknowledged receipt of my FOI request.
Please acknowledge receipt of it. Maybe your overzealous spam
filter deleted it. I'll give it until Monday to wait for
acknowledgment and then i'll re send this in a new FOI request.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Customer Relations,

Please acknowledge receipt of my FOI request
(http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/we...)
by the end of the day or i will not hesitate to contact the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Tanya,

Please take this correspondence as notification that my request is
not vexatious. I would like you to answer the questions originally
submitted. You have so far answered my FOI within 20 days. I will
allow you another 10 days to answer the questions which you listed
in your correspondence.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Tweedy

Dear Tanya

Please justify how you can term MY FOI request as vexatious from
the annotation made by a third party. As the Whatdotheyknow website
can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, it could
have easily have been YOU who made the annotation, to try and add
weight to your argument that my request is vexatious. Please answer
the original questions as you are very close to your 20 day
deadline.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Tweedy