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Costs incurred in the defence of merseyflow charge notice appeals

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Dear Halton Borough Council,

I am a user of the controversial toll bridge and understand that the borough council do not make any profit from either the tolls charged nor from the penalties issued for failure to pay said tolls.

I am aware however that significant time has been spent in defending the signage and enforcement of appealed charges.

As a tax payer I am keen to understand the costs involved in matters and request the following information:

1)
The total cost to date of legal fees incurred by Halton Borough Council in respect of it's involvement with the Merseyflow Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

2)
The total cost of the replacement of original toll signage, (including all aspects from purchase to installation).

Yours faithfully,
Mr. J Cook

Halton Borough Council

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your enquiry. The enquiry has been logged on our FOI tracking system and is being dealt with.

The case number is shown in the subject line of the e-mail.

Should you have any further queries please quote this reference number.

Please use [Halton Borough Council request email] for any further correspondence.

Thank You

Halton Direct Link.

Sent By UserID: 70

Jim Yates, Halton Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Cook

 

The Freedom of Information Act allows a right of refusal if the cost of
complying with a request would far exceed the "appropriate limit" of fees
that can be charged in relation to the disbursement and prescribed costs
involved in dealing with requests.

 

I can confirm that the Mersey Gateway Crossing Board (MGCB) does hold
information concerning the cost of external legal advice, however such
information is not categorised on a case specific basis. In order to
establish the information you have requested, this would involve an
analysis of all the invoices and worksheets submitted.

 

The invoices supplied to the MGCB include details of charges which are
supported by a transaction narrative. In this case each of those
narratives would need to be reviewed to determine whether the costs had
any relevance to the cases that you have identified in your request. In
analysing one month’s invoicing there were in excess of 80 narratives and
it is clear that the time needed to review all invoices that may include
relevant charges would be substantial. As a result of the number of
worksheets and narrative transactions that would need to be reviewed it
has been determined that the cost limit as specified in Section 12 of the
FOI Act would be significantly exceeded.

  

As a consequence of this it is not possible to accommodate your request
with regard to case specific costs.

 

In respect of the cost of replacement signage as this work has not yet
been completed we are not able to provide this information at the present
time.

 

Regards

 

Jim Yates

Chief Executive’s Office

Municipal Building

Kingsway

Widnes

WA8 7QF

 

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Thank you

 

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Request Id : 8481

Customer Details
Title :
Forename : James
Surname : Cook
Home Phone :
Work Phone :
Mobile Phone :
Email : [FOI #620675 email]

Address
Property Name :
Property Number :
Street :
Area :
Town :
County :
Postcode :

Details of Information Request

Request Topic(s) :
Requestor Category : Public
Business Name :
Job Title :
Information Requested : Dear Halton Borough Council,

I am a user of the controversial toll bridge and understand that the
borough council do not make any profit from either the tolls charged nor
from the penalties issued for failure to pay said tolls.

I am aware however that significant time has been spent in defending the
signage and enforcement of appealed charges.

As a tax payer I am keen to understand the costs involved in matters and
request the following information:

1)
The total cost to date of legal fees incurred by Halton Borough Council in
respect of it's involvement with the Merseyflow Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

2)
The total cost of the replacement of original toll signage, (including all
aspects from purchase to installation).

Yours faithfully,
Mr. J Cook

 

References

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are James Cook please sign in and let everyone know.