Mr Michael Evans
Correspondence Manager
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
33 Horseferry Road
London
SW1P 4DR
Web Site: www.gov.uk/dft
Ms S H Tang
Our Ref: F0015767
[By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx]
28 March 2018
Dear Ms Tang,
Freedom of Information Act Request – F0015767
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request of 12 February 2018. You asked
for the following information:
Please treat this as my Freedom of Information request for a copy of West Midlands
Railway's Penalty Fare Scheme and its guidance to Authorised Collectors. A copy
has not been made available since they took over the franchise from London
Midlands.
Please also provide evidence or/and confirmation of when, or whether, this Scheme
was approved by the Department.
We wrote to you on 12 March 2018 to confirm that the Department for Transport (DfT)
holds information that is relevant to your request. We also advised you that we required
more time to consult West Midlands Trains (WMT) and to complete public interest
considerations. I am pleased to say that this process is now complete. Replies are
provided under each of your requests below.
Please treat this as my Freedom of Information request for a copy of West Midlands
Railway's Penalty Fare Scheme and its guidance to Authorised Collectors. A copy
has not been made available since they took over the franchise from London
Midlands.
On balance, the public interest test favours disclosing most of the information you have
requested and I enclose with this letter all correspondence held by the DfT that falls within
the scope of your request.
Some of the words contained within page 1 of WMTs’ Penalty Fare Scheme have been
withheld in reliance on the exemption at section 43(2) - prejudice to commercial interests;
of the FOI Act 2000. The information contained is factually incorrect. In addition,
information regarding the discretions given to authorised collectors of fares is also being
withheld under section 43(2). As section 43(2) is a qualified exemption we are required to
balance the public interest in disclosing the information against that for withholding it.
Annex A to this letter sets out the exemption in full and details why the public interest test
favours withholding the information.
Please also provide evidence or/and confirmation of when, or whether, this Scheme
was approved by the Department.
WMTs’ Penalty Fare Scheme was approved by the DfT on 17 November 2017.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study
and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in
current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be also used in the UK
without requiring permission for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for
example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining
permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at
www.ipo.gov.uk.
If you are unhappy with the way the DfT has handled your request or with the decisions
made in relation to your request you may complain within two calendar months of the date
of this letter by writing to the DfT’s FOI Advice Team at:
Zone D/04
Ashdown House
Sedlescombe Road North
Hastings
East Sussex TN37 7GA
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xxx.xx
Please send or copy any follow-up correspondence relating to this request to the FOI
Advice Team to help ensure that it receives prompt attention. Please also remember to
quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Please see attached details of DfT’s complaints procedure and your right to complain to
the Information Commissioner.
Yours sincerely
Michael Evans
Correspondence Manager – Passenger Services
Your right to complain to DfT and the Information Commissioner
You have the right to complain within two calendar months of the date of this letter about
the way in which your request for information was handled and/or about the decision not
to disclose all or part of the information requested. In addition a complaint can be made
that DfT has not complied with its FOI publication scheme.
Your complaint will be acknowledged and you will be advised of a target date by which to
expect a response. Initially your complaint will be re-considered by the official who dealt
with your request for information. If, after careful consideration, that official decides that
his/her decision was correct, your complaint will automatically be referred to a senior
independent official who will conduct a further review. You will be advised of the outcome
of your complaint and if a decision is taken to disclose information originally withheld this
will be done as soon as possible.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
UU
Annex A
Section 43(2) - Commercial interests
(1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret.
(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or
would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the
public authority holding it).
(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with
section 1(1)(a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice the interests mentioned in subsection
(2).
Factors for disclosure
Factors against disclosure
- The public interest in scrutinising
- Disclosure of the redacted
WMTs’ penalty fare scheme.
information from page 1 of the
attached document would be likely to
- Public interest in seeing that WMTs’
prejudice the Train Operating
penalty fare enforcement is
Company’s (TOCs) commercial
complying with the set scheme.
interests as this information is
factually incorrect. Release of the
- The Government has promoted the
redacted information would be likely
ideal that information should be
to misinform both the public and rail
made public rather than not, and that
industry at this time.
Government should be more
transparent.
- Disclosure of the redacted
information would be likely to
prejudice the TOCs commercial
interests as it would reveal the list of
discretions given to authorised
collectors of fares. Public knowledge
of this may result in passengers
taking advantage of these
discretions, which they may not be
entitled to. This would result in a loss
of penalty fare revenue for WMT
which would be likely to prejudice
their commercial interests.
- Full disclosure of the written
instructions provided to authorised
collectors would be likely to
undermine the effectiveness of
revenue protection ability. It would
assist those intent on not paying a
fare which would result in a loss of
penalty fare revenue for WMT which
would be likely to prejudice their
commercial interests.
- Disclosure would be likely to make
WMT and other Train Operating
Companies reluctant to provide the
DfT with information in the future that
they are not required to if they felt
that this would be routinely disclosed.
This would prejudice the DfT’s ability
to carry out its rail policy and
planning functions and limit the
information available to the DfT. This
would not be in the public interest.
Decision Reached
Inaccurate information relating to WMT passenger services and information about the
discretions given to authorised collectors of fares is being
withheld as disclosure of this
information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of WMT and also
prejudice the DfT’s ability to carry out its rail policy and planning functions.
Document Outline