Portsmouth City Council - FOI request |
Portsmouth City Council - FOI request |
Mon, 4 Nov 2019 - 12:51
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Member Group: Members Posts: 38,006 Joined: 3 Dec 2010 Member No.: 42,618 |
Portsmouth City Council refused to disclose its templated rejections under the Freedom of Information Act, using the somewhat fanciful proposition that the templates could be used for fraudulent purposes. The full decision notice is here https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-taken/.../fs50833871.pdf but the salient points are:
46. The required contents of a penalty charge notice is set out in The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007.5 The Council has informed the Commissioner that it is satisfied that the contents of its letters are lawful and compliant with these Regulations and that this has been routinely and recently confirmed by the Independent Adjudication Service in respect of individual appeals against a charge. 47. The Council says that it strongly disagrees with the complainant’s assertion that providing only the wording of the letters, rather than a copy of the entire template, would be of no use to a fraudster. The Council advised the Commissioner that it is possible to obtain the Council's crest and the name of relevant council officers - which are in the public domain, to create a realistic scam letter. 48. The Council acknowledges the complainant’s assertion that it already publishes information on its website about the Penalty Charge Notice Procedure and that there is some potential for this to be used by fraudsters. However, access to the specific wording of the template letters would enable the fraudster to create a more plausible replica. 49. The Commissioner has examined the Council’s template wording used on its letters which describes how to pay a fine, the consequences of not paying a fine and how to make an appeal to the relevant tribunal. She has compared that wording to the wording which the Council provides to the public on its website. 50. The Commissioner has found that the two sets of wording are substantially the same but are not identical. 51. The Commissioner has considered the arguments advanced by the complainant and the Council in support of their respective positions. The Commissioner is not persuaded that disclosure of the template wording would increase the likelihood of a motivated fraudster creating plausible PCNs and sending them to members of the public. 52. The Commissioner accepts the Council’s evidence that similar frauds have been noted elsewhere. However she does not consider that the risk of fraud would be particularly enhanced by the disclosure of the requested information. 53. The Commissioner is mindful that placing hereto unavailable information into the public domain could assist wrongdoers in committing a crime. Here however the requested template wording is substantially already in the public domain by virtue of the Council’s own website. It is also available to the public via on-line forums where members post facsimiles of the PCNs they have received. 54. The Commissioner has weighed the public interest considerations which concern the disclosure of the requested PCN text. The Commissioner finds that those considerations are finely balanced. However, given the current availability of the requested text, its anodyne nature and the need for PCNs to be properly worded, the Commissioner has decided that the greater weight should be given to disclosure. 55. The Commissioner’s decision is that the exemption to disclosure provided by section 31(1)(a) of the FOIA is engaged but the public interest favours the disclosure of the requested template text. -------------------- If you would like assistance with a penalty charge notice, please post a thread on https://www.ftla.uk/index.php
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