Noisy Vehicle Offences 379/2024
FOI Reference: 379/2024
Request:
- Numbers of noisy vehicle complaints in the last 5 complete years, year on year.
- The outcomes of those complaints, i.e. numbers of NFA, driver fines, seizures of vehicles, and any NIPs.
- For NFAs, why was no further action taken?
- Total numbers of excessive vehicle noise offences and/or tickets in the last 5 complete years, year on year.
- Any information on noisy exhaust initiatives in your force, i.e. the nature of any initiatives, their dates, length, and outcomes.
Clarification sought on 11/04/24:
Do you wish to know the number of individuals stopped by an officer and issued with a Traffic Offence Report or the number of individuals stopped by an officer and issued with a conditional offer?
Can you also clarify as to whether you are requesting data for exhaust related offences?
Clarification received on 30/05/24:
To confirm I am interested in TORs, relating to exhaust related offences
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.
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.
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However, we are withholding the whole of the requested information, Q1 – Q3, since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.
Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit
Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect 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 190 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located @ www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244
The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of Questions 1-3 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to your request for the time frame stipulated would involve Dyfed Powys Police accessing and reviewing storm records. Each record would have to be manually reviewed to ascertain whether it relates to a vehicle.
It has been established that there are a total of 2286 records that cover the period of your request. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single record in respect of your request. The process outlined results in the below time estimate.
2286 storm records that mention Noise in the summary
2286 x 5 mins = 11,430mins /60= 190 hours
Time estimate to complete task = 190 hours
In accordance therefore 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, 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 public authorities 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 question 4 & 5, 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.
Response to Q4
TOR’s issued for exhaust related offences:
2019 – 12
2020 – 5
2021 – 4
2022 – 6
2023 – 12
Response to Q5
There is no information held by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to noisy exhaust initiatives.
It should be noted that owing to the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such matters the information provided may or may not be accurate. It should be noted that for these reasons this Force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 26/06/2024)