Merseytravel and the LCRCA again refuse to show how your money is spent and claim it is vexatious to even ask!

                                           

The ongoing saga of trying to persuade Merseytravel and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to release details of a small number of invoices has now entered a new phase.

Last year I asked to inspect these invoices during the 30 day inspection period and was told this was unreasonable. I was asked to submit a FOI/EIR request (which I did). Now having submitted a FOI/EIR I am told Merseytravel estimate it would take 11 hours (within the 18.5 hour FOI cost limit). Merseytravel estimate that the activities of consulting and redacting (which don’t count towards the 18.5 hour limit) would take an estimated further roughly 24 hours that Merseytravel wish to class the request as vexatious instead.

Merseytravel acknowledge that part of the request could be an EIR request (which has no time limits) but have decided to base their estimates of time without excluding the EIR elements of it.

Merseytravel also claim (incorrectly) that this is ICO’s view (which it isn’t) as ICO have yet to express a formal view on this request.

However, as expressed in FS50569254 unless one of the invoices is 95 pages long (which I seriously doubt) this request isn’t vexatious.

The weird thing is that I estimate if you add up the amount of time Merseytravel and the LCRCA have spent on trying to refuse this request so far over the past 7 or so months and also the time ICO have spent trying to deal with it, it must far exceed the time cost estimated had the choice just been made to provide the information in the first place.

It just makes me suspicious as to what there actually is in what I have requested for an organisation to go to such lengths to prevent its disclosure!

I have responded to Merseytravel’s refusal here.

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