Dear Mr Wilson,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – FOI1136

We acknowledge receipt of your email of 31 December 2021, outlined below
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“The Act”).

You have requested “scripts for all of your automated announcements”.
Specifically, you have requested scripts for both Translink’s station
platform announcements (Atos Worldline) and onboard train announcements
(3000/4000).

Please be advised, the Act allows us up to 20 working days (excluding any
UK statutory holidays) to process a valid request for information. We may,
however, need to contact you if we require any clarifications on your
request. If no clarifications are required, you should expect to receive a
response on or before 28 January 2022.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

FOI/DPA Team

Translink 

[1][NITHCo / Translink request email]

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Dear Mr Wilson,

Freedom of Information Act 2000- (Our Reference: FOI1136)

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 31 December 2021. You
have requested information pertaining to Translink’s train announcements,
specifically, the scripts for Translink’s station platform and train
announcements.

Response

As required by Section 1(1)(a) Freedom of Information Act (the “Act”), we
can confirm that we do hold the information specified in your request.
However, we consider that this information is exempt from release under
Section 43(2) of the Act, relating to ‘information where disclosure would
be likely to prejudice commercial interests’ for the reasons set out
below.

As required by Section 43(2), we have balanced the public interest in
withholding the information against the public interest in disclosure.

The recordings, including the relevant scripts, are the intellectual
property of Translink and Translink’s supplier(s) procured for this
service, as they were created for Translink on the assurance that the
recordings/scripts would be used for the sole purpose for which they were
created - for broadcast on Translink’s network only. If we were to release
this information, the intellectual property of our supplier(s) would be
left vulnerable to duplication by competitors.

While Translink would wish to be as transparent as possible, in our view,
a lack of candour or an unwillingness to negotiate would be generated
amongst suppliers - fearful that by entering into an arrangement with
Translink, they would be placing their services at risk of publication and
therefore,  at risk of being undermined.

As a consequence, the long-term effect would be a reduction in Translink’s
ability to negotiate and to achieve best value in its use of public funds
when attempting to engage companies in those fields. This result would,
ironically, run contrary to any aim of encouraging openness and value for
money in the public interest. Translink wishes to protect its commercial
interests and ability to participate in future commercial activity and the
disclosure of this information would be to the detriment of present and
future business activities for both parties.

It is asserted, therefore, that the balance of the public interest in
maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Review Procedure

If you are not satisfied with this response you may request a review by
writing to the Translink General Counsel and Company Secretary, who has
overall responsibility for Freedom of Information and Data Protection
issues within this organisation. Correspondence should be addressed to the
above-mentioned at: Translink, 22 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7LX
or by email to [1][NITHCo / Translink request email].

If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your
request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right
of appeal to the Information Commissioner who will make an independent
judgement. The address of the Information Commissioner is: Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. The address of the Information
Commissioner’s Office for Northern Ireland is: 3rd floor, 14 Cromac Place,
Gasworks, Belfast, BT7 2JB.

Yours sincerely,

The FOI/DPA Team

[2][email address]

Journeys and more at www.translink.co.uk

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Translink is a trading name used by any one or more of the companies under
the ultimate ownership of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company
(NITHC). The Group comprises NITHC as parent company which owns Citybus
Limited (which also trades as “Metro”) (NI009039) Flexibus Limited
(NI006724) Ulsterbus Limited (NI006725), Translink (NI) Limited (NI006673)
and NIR Networks Limited (NI017638) - each of which is registered in
Northern Ireland and has its registered office at 22 Great Victoria
Street, Belfast BT2 7LX; Northern Ireland Railways Company Limited
(NI006929) which is registered in Northern Ireland and has its registered
office at 22 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7LX; and NIR Operations
Limited (NI021091) which is registered in Northern Ireland and has its
registered office at Lanyon Place Station, 47 East Bridge Street, Belfast
BT1 3NR.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[NITHCo / Translink request email]
2. mailto:[email address]