The West Midlands Passenger Transport
Executive (Centro) received 15 requests from one person under the
Freedom of Information Act in just 11 months, between January and
November 2005. It told the requester at that point that it would
not answer any more queries. The requester complained to the
ICO.
The requests related to Centro's financial
relationships with four bus companies, and Centro provided
information to the person making the request. After the 14th and
15th requests came in, though, it said that it had provided
detailed information and would provide no more. Centro had also
offered direct discussions with the person, which they turned
down.
The requester's complaint to the ICO said that
Centro had not acted in line with its obligations under the FOI
Act, given that it is a public authority.
The ICO disagreed. It ruled that the 15th
request would have imposed a significant and unreasonable burden on
Centro. It also said that that request was tantamount to harassment
of the authority and that it was manifestly unreasonable.
"This is the most recent of a number of
decisions in which the ICO has upheld a public authority's use of
the FOI Act's provisions on vexatious requests," said Graham Smith,
deputy Commissioner at the ICO. "Rights to access official
information should be exercised responsibly and the Act recognises
that there are limits to compliance beyond which public authorities
are not obliged to go."
The FOI Act says that there is a general right
of access to information, but that it "does not oblige a public
authority to comply with a request for information if the request
is vexatious".
The ICO has previously produced a guide to
vexatious requests and the exemption in the Act relating to them.
"Even though it may not have been the explicit intention of the
applicant to cause inconvenience or expense," said the guide, "if a
reasonable person would conclude that the main effect of the
request would be disproportionate inconvenience or expense, then it
will be appropriate to treat the request as being vexatious."
