Freedom of information Request denial (Islington council)
Discussion
10 Pence Short said:
On one hand I think public bodies should be accountable and respond to FOI requests.
On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
It's the second one that's pissing me off.On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
OP, get a f
king life and stop wasting my money chasing fractions of a penny.I can be an obstinate bd when it comes to dealing with inflexible officialdom but even this is beyond my limits.
Asking silly questions like this is abusing the FOI and has already been said wastes time that might otherwise be spent dealing with serious requests. There must be plenty of other causes you could take up with the Council and maybe even do some good in the process.
d when it comes to dealing with inflexible officialdom but even this is beyond my limits. Asking silly questions like this is abusing the FOI and has already been said wastes time that might otherwise be spent dealing with serious requests. There must be plenty of other causes you could take up with the Council and maybe even do some good in the process.
The should contact the Information Commisionner's office
http://www.ico.gov.uk/
They are in breach of their obligations under the freedom of information act/general access principle
http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/freedom_of_inf...
They have 20 days to respond (they don't have to give you the information , but they do have to respond)
You can probably nibble into their civil service bonuses by getting them a slap on the wrist
http://www.ico.gov.uk/
They are in breach of their obligations under the freedom of information act/general access principle
http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/freedom_of_inf...
They have 20 days to respond (they don't have to give you the information , but they do have to respond)
You can probably nibble into their civil service bonuses by getting them a slap on the wrist
I have to say this, but I think the Freedom of Information Act is a licence for-
1) "investigative" journalists to do some cheap research
2) Serial complainers to beat the Government with a stick.
I genuinely cannot believe the amount of public money that is wasted chasing up these random requests. Money far better spent on frontline services. Rant over.
1) "investigative" journalists to do some cheap research
2) Serial complainers to beat the Government with a stick.
I genuinely cannot believe the amount of public money that is wasted chasing up these random requests. Money far better spent on frontline services. Rant over.
RWD cossie wil said:
Papa Hotel said:
Have you read his post? He's whining at getting charged per minute instead of per second. Where will that end? My watch goes to 1/100th of a second, maybe I'll take up the case for charging to that timescale. What a load of bks.
Yes, have YOU read his post? The point he is making is that the council are issuing tickets the second that your ticket runs out, it if your ticket runs out at 11:15am, then at 11:14:59 am, the warden is there issuing a ticket.... However, if you bought your ticket for one minute at 11:14:58 am, then TECHNICALLY you have until 11:15:58 am to move your car, but as you bought your ticket from the machine at 11:14 am, you get a ticket at 11.15am. You have infact ONLY been parked for 2 seconds, but charged for a whole minute.ks. Now I know that it sounds silly getting into debates about how many seconds you are parked for, but if the council are playing hardball zero tolerance on time for parking tickets, then you SHOULD get exactly what your pay for, ie one hours parking etc, not 59 mins and 2 secs......
Petty as is may seem, I can see EXACTLY what the OP is drving at....
Scraggles said:
pretty sure all the ticket machines charge you for the time you buy, so if you buy 2 hours, you get 120 mins, 0 seconds
is the OP a retard or does he need the council's refusal to give him FOI to give him the idea that it is a waste of time
I would suggest reading the OP is the OP a retard or does he need the council's refusal to give him FOI to give him the idea that it is a waste of time
carreauchompeur said:
I have to say this, but I think the Freedom of Information Act is a licence for-
1) "investigative" journalists to do some cheap research
2) Serial complainers to beat the Government with a stick.
I genuinely cannot believe the amount of public money that is wasted chasing up these random requests. Money far better spent on frontline services. Rant over.
Rubbish. The only reason the whole MP expenses scandal came out was because of the access allowed under FoI legislation.1) "investigative" journalists to do some cheap research
2) Serial complainers to beat the Government with a stick.
I genuinely cannot believe the amount of public money that is wasted chasing up these random requests. Money far better spent on frontline services. Rant over.
Yes it might be a pain for the organisations, but it forces them to think about what they are doing and not be so profligate with the money that they get from us poor saps. I'll bet the fear of being shown up by an FoI request has saved more money than has been spent researching for them.
spikeyhead said:
10 Pence Short said:
On one hand I think public bodies should be accountable and respond to FOI requests.
On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
It's the second one that's pissing me off.On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
OP, get a f
king life and stop wasting my money chasing fractions of a penny.2nd are you so stupid that you can't see over charging (or stealing) fractions of seconds multiplied many times over is actually a huge revenue earner and very immoral.
Or put it this way, if you went to the pub and bought a beer for £3.20, yet you didn't have the right money and handed a fiver over. The barman said "thanks, but we don't give change". Would you be a happy bunny??
So if a parking ticket is £60 and more people are issued them on time they've actually paid for already. How much money do you think is being made? Multiples of £60 would add up to a friggin lot in my book!
Edited by 300bhp/ton on Wednesday 21st July 11:36
300bhp/ton said:
spikeyhead said:
10 Pence Short said:
On one hand I think public bodies should be accountable and respond to FOI requests.
On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
It's the second one that's pissing me off.On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
OP, get a f
king life and stop wasting my money chasing fractions of a penny.Or put it this way, if you went to the pub and bought a beer for £3.20, yet you didn't have the right money and handy a fiver over. The barman said "thanks, but we don't give change". Would you be a happy bunny??
But as someone else said, life's toop short to de-stone olives. Life is too short to worry about that few drops of beer, or those few lost seconds of money
williamp said:
300bhp/ton said:
spikeyhead said:
10 Pence Short said:
On one hand I think public bodies should be accountable and respond to FOI requests.
On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
It's the second one that's pissing me off.On the other I find it frustrating that they have to spend so much of their time dealing with pointless, petty FOI requests that cost more than they benefit the tax payer.
OP, get a f
king life and stop wasting my money chasing fractions of a penny.Or put it this way, if you went to the pub and bought a beer for £3.20, yet you didn't have the right money and handy a fiver over. The barman said "thanks, but we don't give change". Would you be a happy bunny??
But as someone else said, life's toop short to de-stone olives. Life is too short to worry about that few drops of beer, or those few lost seconds of money
But this is a bigger picture than a few seconds or ml of fluid. I think the op mentioned tickets are automatically issued, so there is no leeway. When automatically issuing £60 fines down to the wrong second, of which you are most likely to have paid for. Would you not be a bit more pissed off?
And I'm sure many or all of us have at one time or another counted mins left to get back to the car. Time flies when you are doing other things.
e.g.
You go for lunch with a friend. Pay for your 1 hour parking ticket. Time on it says 13:00:58
You eat lunch, time over runs a bit.
You run to the car. And get out of the car park with what you believe is a min to spare. However at 14:00:00 you were fined £60.
So you paid for 60 mins parking, you actually got 59 mins parking and a £60 fine.
I'm not saying it isn't petty, but I think any sane person can see the potential consequences.
In short, you get "short changed" and f
ked over a barrel at the same time. As I and another poster have already pointed out, as you don't buy the ticket the instant you park and start occupying the space - you have lost nothing. The charging system is entirely reasonable, and any possible unfairness would obviously be considered 'de minimis'. Now if they slapped a ticket on the car before you could possibly get to the machine and pay, then you might have a complaint. The beer analogy is silly, you do not automatically start imbibing beer the minute you walk through a pub door, and then pay, with the option of almost immediatelt leaving (driving away) and paying nothing whilst having actually drunk some beer/occupied the space for seconds. Life is indeed too short.
Mr GrimNasty said:
As I and another poster have already pointed out, as you don't buy the ticket the instant you park and start occupying the space - you have lost nothing. The charging system is entirely reasonable, and any possible unfairness would obviously be considered 'de minimis'. Now if they slapped a ticket on the car before you could possibly get to the machine and pay, then you might have a complaint. The beer analogy is silly, you do not automatically start imbibing beer the minute you walk through a pub door, and then pay, with the option of almost immediatelt leaving (driving away) and paying nothing whilst having actually drunk some beer/occupied the space for seconds. Life is indeed too short.
You seem to fail to miss every point.BAA BAAA
BAAA BAA BA BAAAA
I am afraid Islington Council crimes against the motorist go far further than this. They have a stated policy of war against the motorist. Be under no illusion, the moment you drive into Islington your wallet is under attack.
They have installed bus lanes to increase congestion, and deliberately sited bus stops where the stoppage will cause maximum disruption.
They police these bus lanes with a network of hugely expensive CCTV cameras. They also have a network of yellow box and no U turn cameras to hand out fines.
They also have a policy of restricting the flow of roads with pointless traffic lights and crossings, which are deliberatly phased to cause maximum disruption, regardless of the presence of traffic or pedestrians.
The parking wardens go beyond the normal tolerence for a slight overstay, they have a policy of noting the times when peoples tickets will run out, monitoring those cars by CCTV, then returning to those cars to issue the ticket the second it runs out. So this fuss about a "few seconds" is not as unreasonable as it first appears.
The appeals proccess is also deliberatly byzantine, and Islington council took itself to court over a ticket recently.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_af...
Of course, the entire parking "problem" has been created by Islington council in the first place. They refuse to grant planning permission for car parking spaces if at all possible, thus creating a massive dearth of parking spaces in the first place. They also deliberatly create "No Car estates" without any parking, even for residents, denying social mobility to its denzines, and pushing parking problems onto the streets.
The entire intergrated apparatus of oppression of the motorist could not have been dreamt up by Stalin at his worst. Anything that puts stones in the shoes of these rabid car haters is a good thing in my book.
They have installed bus lanes to increase congestion, and deliberately sited bus stops where the stoppage will cause maximum disruption.
They police these bus lanes with a network of hugely expensive CCTV cameras. They also have a network of yellow box and no U turn cameras to hand out fines.
They also have a policy of restricting the flow of roads with pointless traffic lights and crossings, which are deliberatly phased to cause maximum disruption, regardless of the presence of traffic or pedestrians.
The parking wardens go beyond the normal tolerence for a slight overstay, they have a policy of noting the times when peoples tickets will run out, monitoring those cars by CCTV, then returning to those cars to issue the ticket the second it runs out. So this fuss about a "few seconds" is not as unreasonable as it first appears.
The appeals proccess is also deliberatly byzantine, and Islington council took itself to court over a ticket recently.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_af...
Of course, the entire parking "problem" has been created by Islington council in the first place. They refuse to grant planning permission for car parking spaces if at all possible, thus creating a massive dearth of parking spaces in the first place. They also deliberatly create "No Car estates" without any parking, even for residents, denying social mobility to its denzines, and pushing parking problems onto the streets.
The entire intergrated apparatus of oppression of the motorist could not have been dreamt up by Stalin at his worst. Anything that puts stones in the shoes of these rabid car haters is a good thing in my book.
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