London Underground Announcements
Dear Transport for London,
Please may I request a copy of London Underground announcements used on the following underground lines where you are permitted to release them:
Circle
District
Hammersmith & City
Bakerloo
Central
Jubilee
Metropolitan
Northern
Picadilly
Victoria
Waterloo & City
This is for personal use only.
Yours faithfully,
T Mather
Dear T Mather
Our ref: FOI-1242-1920/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26
July 2019 asking for a copy of the London Underground announcements.
Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
A response will be sent to you by 23 August 2019. The announcements will
be sent to you on CD and therefore we need your postal address. Please
send this to us direct by emailing us at ‘FOI @ tfl.gov.uk’ (no spaces).
We publish a substantial range of information on our website on subjects
including operational performance, contracts, expenditure, journey data,
governance and our financial performance. This includes data which is
frequently asked for in FOI requests or other public queries. Please check
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar... to see if this helps you.
We will publish anonymised versions of requests and responses on the
[2]www.tfl.gov.uk website. We will not publish your name and we will send
a copy of the response to you before it is published on our website.
In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
References
Visible links
1. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar...
2. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/
3. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/
Dear Graham,
Many thanks for your swift reply.
I've sent details of my postal address to the email address provided.
Yours sincerely,
T Mather
Dear T Mather
Our ref: FOI-1242-1920/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26
July 2019 asking for a copy of the London Underground announcements.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that
we do hold the information you require.
A CD containing some London Underground announcements has been sent to you
in the post.
On train announcements for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines have
been provided. The Northern line audio files contain historical as well as
current announcements. You will note the Piccadilly line announcements are
supplied as PCC files which may need specialist software to play them.
This format is the only version we currently have available.
Please also note that while the Jubilee and Piccadilly announcements are
recorded as full statements specifically for each station, Northern line
announcements are recorded as segmented phrases joined into full sentences
by the train management system (TMS).
Access to this material will be provided to you under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, you are not granted any rights to any of the
intellectual property that exists in it or granted any permission to make
secondary uses of it.
TfL owns all intellectual property (including, without limitation,
copyright) in the material supplied and will defend such rights.
If you wish to make any secondary use of the material provided, you must
first obtain the consent of TfL (which may be withheld) and, if consent is
granted, a fee may be charged, in accordance with the terms of the Reuse
of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005.
With regards to the London Underground station announcements, and the on
train announcements for other lines, we are not obliged to supply these
audio files as the information is subject to a statutory exemption to the
right of access to information under section 43(2).
In this instance section 43(2) has been applied as disclosure of the
information requested would be likely to prejudice the commercial
interests of TfL and/or the company used to provide the recordings. The
recordings in question were provided to London Underground under a signed
contracts which contained explicit conditions concerning disclosure and
distribution.
These contracts specify that the recordings are solely to be used for the
purpose for which they were created and for broadcast on the London
Underground network only. If TfL were to disclose these recordings in
response to an FOI request, it would constitute an actionable breach of
contract and would be likely to result in a valid legal claim against
London Underground or the license to use the recordings being withdrawn,
which would impose additional, unnecessary, costs. TfL wishes to protect
its commercial interests and ability to participate in future commercial
activity. The disclosure of this information would be to the detriment of
present and future business activities for both parties.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public
interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. TfL
recognises the need for openness and transparency within public
authorities and the degree of public interest concerning London transport
announcements in light of the recent disclosure of iBus announcements.
However, in this instance this is outweighed by the damage that would be
done to TfL’s ability to use these recordings and any future contractual
negotiations that may take place regarding the London Underground
announcements.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
References
Visible links
1. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/
Dear FOI,
Thank you for sending the CD to me in the post.
I note (as per your email) that the Piccadilly Line audio is stored as a .PCC file.
Please would you be able to offer guidance as to what software is capable of opening this?
What software does TFL use to open these files?
Yours sincerely,
T Mather
Dear T Mather,
Unfortunately we are unable to recommend any specific software for you to use. We suggest that you explore the options available to you and make an informed decision on which is most suitable.
Yours sincerely
Lee Hill
Information Access Manager
Dear FOI,
Could tell me what software you use to open these files?
Research online reveals that other people are also struggling to open the Piccadilly line audio file:
https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/com...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
At present, I'm not able to open this file, despite several attempts with various softwares.
Yours sincerely,
T Mather
Dear Transport for London,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Transport for London's handling of my FOI request 'London Underground Announcements'.
I feel that your suggestion that '[I] explore the options available to [me] and make an informed decision on which is most suitable' doesn't provide adequate advice and assistance on how I can access this data.
Searching online shows that there are no software solutions that can access the data.
I understand you have said that you currently only hold a .PCC file, but has TFL considered if it is reasonably practicable to convert the file?
I have seen several requests like my own which after recieving the data ask about accessing the data with the PCC file, so I therefore feel that it is justified to request that the contents be converted to a reusable format such as .wav, or for TFL to offer further guidance on how to access the contents of the data.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...
Yours faithfully,
T Mather
Dear Mr Mather
I am contacting you regarding your request for an internal review
concerning the response provided to FOI-1242-1920.
To clarify, when a request for information is made, the Freedom of
Information Act requires an authority to provide the applicable recorded
information that is held at the time the request is received, irrespective
of the format in which it is stored. Whist we understand you may be
disappointed that the Piccadilly line audio files are not held in the same
format as the other audio files disclosed to you, we simply do not hold
the audio files in any other format at this time and are not obliged under
the terms of the act to engage in seeking costly alternatives to satisfy
disclosure.
With regards to our duty to provide advise and assistance, I apologise if
you feel we have not met your expectations however there is very little
advise we can provide in this instance.
If you are dissatisfied with the internal review actions to date you can
contact me at [1][TfL request email] or you can refer the matter to the
independent authority responsible for enforcing the Freedom of Information
Act, at the following address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
A complaint form is also available on the ICO’s website
([2]www.ico.org.uk).
Yours sincerely
Emma Flint
Principal Information Access Adviser
FOI Case Management Team
Transport for London
[3][TfL request email]
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[TfL request email]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[TfL request email]
4. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/
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