Coach stuck in Llanddeusant 709/2024
FOI Reference: 709/2024
Request:
I would be very grateful if you would let me know the incident number for the coach that got stuck on the tight bend in Llanddeusant yesterday 15/07/2024. I would appreciate any other information you are able to give me, including the name of the coach company.
Response:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Incident reference number: DP-20240715-318
Summary of incident report:
999 call received 15/07/2024 17:08:18 hours
The vehicle which is a 52 seater coach has got stuck on an unclassified road after dropping a number of passengers off.
The driver has followed sat nav in an attempt to return to its depot in Cheltenham however has got stuck on an unclassified road.
Attempts were made to manoeuvre the vehicle however proved difficult due to an uphill reverse required.
The driver had contacted its depot/control room in Cheltenham, who were arranging recovery/assistance via their own breakdown/recovery service.
Who in turn allocated another recovery company who have then since decided that it would be best to recover the coach tomorrow during daylight hours due to the time of evening and with it getting darker.
As such, the coach has been left on the unclassified road however allowing sufficient room for a vehicle to pass.
Report updated 16/07/24 14:07:23 coach has been recovered.
Please note that third-party personal data and data which could potentially identify an individual has been removed/not been provided in line with the Freedom of Information Act exemption Section 40(2) Personal Information:
Section 40(2) is a class-based absolute exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information. There is also no requirement to carry out a Public Interest Test.
Section 40(2) Personal Information:
Section 40(2) applies to third party personal data and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 if disclosure, in relation to data subject to law enforcement processing, would breach any of the data protection principles contained within Part 3 - Chapter 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018. Under Section 34 within Chapter 2 “The Controller in relation to personal data is responsible for and must be able to demonstrate, compliance with” Chapter 2. Such information would not be released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless there is a strong public interest. One of the main differences between the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 is that any information released under FOI is released into the public domain, not just the individual requesting the information and disclosure under the Act must be made with that in mind. As such, any release that identifies an individual through releasing their personal data, even third-party personal data is exempt.
Personal data is defined under Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as:
“(2) ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual (subject to subsection (14)(c)).
(3) ‘Identifiable living individual’ means a living individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a) An identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier, or
(b) One or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.”
All members of the public including those employed by the force have an intrinsic right to privacy and these rights are protected by virtue of the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK - General Data Protection Regulation (UK- GDPR) and a public authority must not interfere with that right. Any release of the information subject to the exemption is likely to compromise those rights.
Data Protection Act 2018
Part 3 – Law Enforcement – Chapter 2 Principles Section 35
The first data protection principle:
“(1) The first data protection principle is that the processing of personal data for any of the law enforcement purposes must be lawful and fair.”
UK General Data Protection Regulation
Article 5 of the UK GDPR – ‘Principles relating to processing of personal data’ provides:
“1. ‘Personal data’ shall be
(a) Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency);
(b) Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest…
2. The controller shall be responsible for, and be able to demonstrate compliance with, paragraph 1 (‘accountability’).”
Dyfed-Powys Police would not want to disclose any information that could potentially identify an individual. In this particular case, to release the coach driver’s details is a direct breach of Data Protection legislation. Therefore, as a consequence I am satisfied that Section 40(2) Personal Information exemption is applicable to the release of the information.
The Section 40 exemption is a class-based exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information.
The Section 40 exemption is in part qualified and in part absolute, in the present case it would be absolute as to release the information would breach Data Protection legislation and therefore there is no requirement to carry out a public interest test.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 07/08/2024)