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FOI Reference: 906/2023
Request:
Clarification:
Clarification was requested and the applicant confirmed that they were seeking information the years 2021 and 2022 for questions 1 and 2 and for question 4 for any reasonable definition of “caught” including stopped, stopped and cautioned, stopped and prosecuted, or any other such relevant definition.
Response:
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to questions 5 and 6 of this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:
Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to questions 5 and 6 of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 3,839.17 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located @
www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2004/20043244.htm
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of questions 5 and 6 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format as there is no specific opening code/category to denote the report of a number plate being cloned or the report of a number plate theft. Therefore, in order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to questions 5 and 6 of the request would require the individual interrogation of all reports/incidents with the opening codes of ‘T-Other/C-Theft/P-Suspicious’ over the time frame specified to identify if the report/incident in question relating to either a number plate being cloned or a number plate theft. It has been established that for the period as specified within the request (i.e. 01/01/2023 – 26/09/23 there are a total 23035 reports/incidents that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to research a single report/incident for relevance to questions 5 and 6 of your request as outlined above, resulting in the following broken down time estimate.
01/01/2023 – 26/09/23 = 23035 reports/incidents at 10 mins each = 3,839.17 hours
Total of 3,839.17 hours to complete task and the whole of the request.
Please note: A response to questions 1 – 4 can be provided within the 18 hour time limit and has been outlined at the end of the document outside of the FOI Act and provided as a gesture of good will.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the WHOLE of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact. You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, however with due regard to the time estimate provided above it is unlikely that refining your request will fall under the 18 hours as the same method and format will have to be undertaken. Should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit.
Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.
Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided information, relative to questions 1 – 4 of your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.
Questions 1 – 4:
Please note: The below information encompasses number plate offences identified by a mobile camera and by an officer stop and is therefore not separated.
Type of number plate offence for 2021 |
Total |
Drive a vehicle when registration mark fails to conform |
2 |
Drive motor vehicle fail to display front registration plate |
39 |
Drive motor vehicle fail to display rear registration plate |
40 |
Drive vehicle - registration mark not conforming to regulations |
202 |
Drive vehicle - registration mark not easily readable |
8 |
Keep a vehicle when registration mark fails to conform |
31 |
Keep motor vehicle fail to display front registration plate |
6 |
Keep vehicle no rear registration plate - registered after 30/09/38 |
1 |
Registration Mark not easily readable |
2 |
Use a vehicle on a road - fail to display a vehicle/trade licence |
3 |
Grand Total |
334 |
Type of number plate offence for 2022 |
Total |
Drive a vehicle when the registration mark fails to conform with regulations |
1 |
Drive motor vehicle fail to display front registration plate |
23 |
Drive motor vehicle fail to display rear registration plate |
30 |
Drive vehicle - registration mark not conforming to regulations |
139 |
Drive vehicle - registration mark not easily readable |
16 |
Keep a vehicle when registration mark fails to conform |
23 |
Keep motor vehicle fail to display front registration plate |
10 |
Keep vehicle no rear registration plate - registered after 30/09/38 |
2 |
Registration mark not conforming to regulations |
12 |
Use a vehicle on a road - fail to display a vehicle/trade licence |
1 |
Use vehicle with registration mark obscured / indistinguishable |
2 |
Grand Total |
259 |
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 24/10/23)