Dear Anze Jensterle,

TfL Ref: FOI-2034-2223

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 17^th
November 2022 asking for the latest Staff Guide to Fares and Ticketing,
including the ITSO Section of Book 2.

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 15^th December 2022.

We will publish anonymised versions of requests and responses on the
[1]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,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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Dear Anze Jensterle,

TfL Ref: FOI-2034-2223

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 17^th
November 2022 asking for the latest Staff Guide to Fares and Ticketing.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

Specifically you asked:

“Please provide me with the latest Staff Guide to Fares and Ticketing,
including the ITSO Section of Book 2.”

I can confirm that we hold the information you require.

The latest version of the Staff Guide to Fares and Ticketing - from
September 2022 - is attached. This includes the ITSO section of Book 2.
The Revenue Protection element of Book 2 has, however, been redacted as it
is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information
under section 31(a) of the Freedom of Information Act (which relates to
‘Law Enforcement’). Note that disclosure under the Freedom of Information
Act is considered to be a disclosure ‘to the world at large’ rather than
the individual applicant. Whilst we make no suggestion that you would use
the information for anything other than your own personal interest, in
this instance the exemption has been applied as information regarding
revenue protection procedures could be used by people wishing to avoid
paying fares.  

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public
interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We
recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities,
but in this instance we believe that balance lies in favour of withholding
the information to ensure that fare evasion is prevented wherever possible
to protect public funds.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate 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,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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TfL Ref: IRV-086-2223

Thank you for your email which was received by Transport for London (TfL) on 6 December 2022.

You have expressed that you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

A review will be conducted by an internal review panel in accordance with TfL’s Internal Review Procedure, which is available via the following URL:
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparenc...

Every effort will be made to provide you with a response by 6 January 2022. However, if the review will not be completed by this date, we will contact you and notify you of the revised response date as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely
Emma Flint
Principal Information Access Adviser
FOI Case Management Team
Transport for London

show quoted sections

TfL Ref: IRV-086-2223

Thank you for your email which was received by Transport for London (TfL) on 6 December 2022.

You have expressed that you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

A review will be conducted by an internal review panel in accordance with TfL’s Internal Review Procedure, which is available via the following URL:
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparenc...

Every effort will be made to provide you with a response by 9 January 2022. However, if the review will not be completed by this date, we will contact you and notify you of the revised response date as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely
Emma Flint
Principal Information Access Adviser
FOI Case Management Team
Transport for London

show quoted sections

Dear Anze Jensterle

I am contacting you in relation to your request for an internal review
concerning the response provided to FOI-2034-2223. Following your email of
6 December 2022 a review has been carried out by an independent review
panel (‘the panel’) consisting of individuals who were not involved in the
handling of your request. As part of the review the panel have reviewed
the information held in relation to

FOI-2034-2223 and sought confirmation from the appropriate subject expert
within TfL, in this instance the Product Manager, Transformation Portfolio
FTP and Cycle.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) gives rights of public access
to information held by public authorities. Section 31 provides an
exemption which protects a variety of law enforcement interests and can be
claimed by any public authority, not just those with law enforcement
functions.   For example, as in this instance, section 31(1)(a) –
prevention or detection of crime, can protect information on a public
authority’s systems which would make it more vulnerable to crime .

Section 31(1) (a)-(f) states the following:

31.—(1) Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section
30 is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would
be likely to, prejudice -

(a) the prevention or detection of crime,

(b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders,

(c) the administration of justice,

(d) the assessment or collection of any tax or duty or of any imposition
of a similar nature,

(e) the operation of immigration controls,

(f) the maintenance of security and good order in prisons or in other
institutions where persons are lawfully detained,

Section 31 is a prejudice based exemption which means it is subject to the
public interest test. This means that not only does the information have
to prejudice one of the purposes listed in it, but, before the information
can be withheld, the public interest in preventing that prejudice must
outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The exemption is split into
three main sections. Sections 31(1)(a) – (f) provides protection for
information which would prejudice general law enforcement activities.

Section 31(1)(a) the prevention or detection of crime

Section 31(1)(a) covers all aspects of the prevention and detection of
crime.  The exemption also covers information held by public authorities
without any specific law enforcement responsibilities. It can be used by a
public authority to withhold information that would make anyone, including
the public authority itself, more vulnerable to crime. Whilst in some
instances information held for the purposes of preventing or detecting
crime will be exempt, it does not have to be held for such purposes for
its disclosure to be prejudicial.

As advised in our response of 6 December 2022 disclosure of this data
would present a fraud risk as it would allow greater potential for
unscrupulous persons to avoid payment for journeys made.  Fare evasion on
the TfL network is an issue that we take very seriously and one which we
have implemented many processes to eradicated the cause. If we provided
the document you have requested without the added redactions made in
accordance with s31 of the FOIA, it would provide would be fare evaders
with knowledge on how they could potentially travel on TfL’s network in a
fraudulent manner without impunity.  The processes we have in place for
our Revenue Inspectors to use are designed to protect revenue by
preventing fraud and the panel agree that to disclose into the wider
public domain details of these fare evasion identifiers would negate their
purpose.  Publishing descriptive information on how Revenue Inspectors go
about identifying if a passenger has travelled without a valid payment and
what enforcement action they can / will take would, in essence, provide
fare evaders with loopholes they could exploit to their advantage.

With reference to your comments concerning the prejudice test, all
requests received under the FOIA are individually assessed on a case by
case basis, taking into account any mitigating factors that may be
applicable at the time the request is received. It would be unduly
restrictive to not consider any future impact that a disclosure of
detailed fare evasion information in response to your request could have,
particularly in the context of providing this specific information into
the public domain. Indeed the effect of disclosure is critical in
determining whether an exemption should be applied, particularly in the
context of the prejudice test.  The prejudice test is not limited to the
harm that could be caused by the requested information on its own. Account
can be taken of any harm likely to arise if the requested information were
put together with other information already published into the public
domain. This is commonly known as the ‘mosaic effect’. The mosaic effect
considers the prejudice that would be caused if the requested information
was combined with other information already available to the public.

Should the information you requested be disclosed, it would be likely to
lead to further continued requests concerning other precise fare evasion
identification methods used by our Revenue Inspectors which would enable
others to build up a working knowledge of how we detect and deal with
individuals who have travelled without paying the required fare. Payment
to travel must be adhered to at all times, irrespective of whether a
Revenue Inspector presents themselves on a journey or not. The panel
considers that there is a very real risk that disclosure would be likely
to increase the confidence of anyone inclined to avoid payment, even if
that confidence is ultimately misguided.

As stated the use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the
public interest and the panel have considered the public interest in
disclosure. The review considered the balance of the public interest, but
felt that this was correctly applied in the original response. While there
is a general public interest in openness and in being able to assess TfL’s
performance of its public functions, the panel did not consider that there
are any strong public interest grounds in favour of disclosing this
information. On the other hand, there is a very strong public interest in
maximising the ability for our Revenue Inspectors to be able to apprehend
fare evaders and justifiably protect TfL revenue and ultimately the public
purse. It would be strongly against the public interest to release any
information that would undermine this and lead to any increase in
fraudulent travel.  We already publish a vast amount of information
regarding travel on our network, which provides necessary information to
the travelling public as well as providing additional detail to transport
enthusiasts. However, it is necessary to draw a line in providing enough
information that it is useful and informative whilst minimising any
possible risks from fraudulent activity. Upon balance the panel have
concluded that the public interest still lies in withholding this
information in order to negate a rise in criminal activity on our network.

I hope the above information provides satisfactory clarification, however
if you are dissatisfied with the internal review actions to date please do
not hesitate to contact me or alternately 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
([1]www.ico.org.uk).

Yours sincerely

Emma Flint

Principal Information Access Adviser

FOI Case Management Team

Transport for London

[2][TfL request email]

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