Brent Council Bus Lane Penalty's FOIR 2017 - 2024 RESULTS

Thank you for contacting the FOI Team.

This is confirmation that we have received your email. You should receive
a further acknowledgment shortly with a reference number.

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Tel: 020 89371234
[1]brentlogo1 (227×84)   Email: [email address]
Web: [2]https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/

Dear Cassius Clairvoyant 

RE: Brent Council Bus Lane Penalty's FOIR 2017 - 2024 RESULTS 

Thank you for contacting the council on 14/12/2024.

Your case will be assigned to an officer and you should receive their
details soon.

Please use this reference number IRC-55223-Y4B1D2 when contacting us about
this case.

Please note that we may require further information in order for us to
proceed, in which case we will contact you. 

If you would like further information on how your case will be dealt with,
please visit our
website: [3]https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/co...

Yours sincerely 
London Borough of Brent

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The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and
communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system
and other lawful purposes.

References

Visible links
2. https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/
3. https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/co...

Tel: 020 8937 2985
[1]brentlogo1 (227×84)   Email: [email address]
Web: [2]www.brent.gov.uk/

Our Ref: IRC-55223-Y4B1D2
Your Ref: 

Dear Cassius Clairvoyant
 

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your request for information that was received on
14/12/2024.

We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and we aim to send a response by 17/01/2025.

In some cases, a fee may be payable. If we decide a fee is payable, we
will send you a fee notice and we will require you to pay the fee before
proceeding with your request.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
 

Further information about the Councils procedures can be found on the
Council's website:
[3]https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/tr...

Alternatively, you may contact me using the contact details provided in
this correspondence.  

Yours sincerely 
Anthony Vartanian
Parking Policy Manager

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and
communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system
and other lawful purposes.

References

Visible links
2. https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council
3. https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council/tr...

Tel: 020 8937 2985
[1]brentlogo1 (227×84)   Email: [email address]
Web: [2]https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council

Our Ref: IRC-55223-Y4B1D2

Dear Cassius Clairvoyant

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your information request received on 14/12/2024.
This request is being handled under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

You requested the following information:

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I kindly request the following
information regarding Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued by Brent
Council for Bus Lane Penalty's:
The total number of Bus Lane PCNs issued in the financial years ;
1. 2018/2019
2. 2020/2021
3. 2021/2022
4. 2022/2023
and
5. 2023/2024 (to date; 14th of December)
Please provide 
the total number of PCNs cancelled (informal or formal
appeal) during the same periods.

A breakdown of the reasons for PCN cancellations, including but not
limited to mitigating circumstances or administrative errors.
Please can you also specify how many were taken to court and which court
facilitated the hearings.
Please provide the revenue generated from PCNs during these years.


Some of the information is being withheld, as we believe that
it exceeds the statutory limit of £450 set out in Section 12 of
the Freedom of Information Act.
 

Your request for information in relation to “a breakdown of the reasons
for PCN cancellations, including but not limited to mitigating
circumstances or administrative errors” exceeds the statutory limit. When
a motorist makes a representation against a PCN, the circumstances and
reasons given for consideration are specific to the individual motorists
and these are entered as free text as part of the representation. The
Council will therefore have to check each and every PCN manually where the
motorist has made a representation.

Each record will need to opened, read, reasons noted and closed which
takes approximately 3 minutes per PCN. From the data provided below, you
will note there are over 80,000 representations that will need to be
manually reviewed. The estimate cost to provide this information is
£100,000 based on 80,000 reps, 3 mins per check, approximately 4,000 hours
x £25 per hour. 

This constitutes a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of
Information Act for this part of your request.

I have detailed below the information that is being disclosed.

Response covering the two questions.

Please note we have included the year 2019-2020 which was no requested in
the list of years as it may have inadvertently been excluded. You have
also requested data for 2023-2024 (to date) but this financial year has
closed and the full year data has been provided.

(i)  Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued by Brent Council for Bus Lane
contraventions:

(ii) Please provide the revenue generated from PCNs during these years.

┌────────────────┬───────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┐
│FY │Bus Lane PCNs issued │Revenue Generated │
├────────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│2018/19 │10,968 │£568,449 │
├────────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│2019/20 │11,166 │£652,240 │
├────────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│2020/21 │9,381 │£537,015 │
├────────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│2021/22 │7,544 │£388,107 │
├────────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│2022/23 │8,267 │£408,972 │
├────────────────┼───────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────┤
│2023/24 │5,927 │£300,020 │
└────────────────┴───────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────┘

Please provide the total number of PCNs cancelled (informal or formal
appeal) during the same periods.

Data provided below is based on the total number of challenges received
against the issuance of all penalty charge notices. We are currently
experiencing a report “run time” error when trying to extract reports for
the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21.We are also experiencing
technical difficulties in accessing the cases that were referred to the
courts. In most cases, the decisions are resolved at the Independent
Tribunal. There is no automatic right of appeal against the adjudicator's
decision. However, in limited circumstances a decision can be reviewed
with some cases progressing to court.

To avoid a delay in responding with the information we can provide, please
see below figures covering the periods 2022/23 and 2023/24 for the appeals
statistics. Once we can extract the reports for the earlier years, a
separate response will be sent with the data along with the number of
cases that went to court and to which courts. If you could please allow
until 28/01/2025 to resolve the issue and complete the request for
information.   

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬────────────────┐
│01.04.2022-31.03.2023 │  │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│  │  │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Representations Received │ 39126│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Rep accepted │ 22962│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Rep rejected │ 13130│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Rep closed │ 3071│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│  │  │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│01.04.2023-31.03.2024 │  │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│  │  │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Representations Received │ 43481│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Rep accepted │ 19410│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Rep rejected │ 12271│
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│Rep closed │ 3546│
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴────────────────┘

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request has been
handled or the outcome, you may request an internal review within two
calendar months of the date of this response by writing to the following
address: 

Freedom of Information
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley 
HA9 0FJ

[3][email address]

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or internal
review, you have a right to appeal directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at:
 

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Phone: 0303 123 1113

Website: [4]www.ico.org.uk 

I will now close your request as of this date.  

Yours sincerely 
Anthony Vartanian
Parking Policy Manager
 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and
communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system
and other lawful purposes.

References

Visible links
2. https://www.brent.gov.uk/your-council
3. mailto:[email%20address]
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/