FOI 1075-2023 / Nov 2023 / Uninsured drivers
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-1075-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 23rd November 2023 as follows:
- How many road traffic accidents involving uninsured drivers have been reported from 1 November 2020 to 1 November 2023?
- Could this information be broken down by month if possible?
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. There is no mandatory or searchable field within the system used to record road traffic collisions which captures whether an accident has involved an uninsured driver; therefore, it would be necessary to manually review the circumstances for each and every RTC on an individual basis. The business area has advised that, for the period specified, there were 929 RTC reports recorded and, at an estimate of 3 minutes per record to review, this would equate to in excess of 46 hours of work. This would exceed 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. For Police forces in the UK, the "appropriate limit" is up to 18 hours of work on one request.
In accordance with section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the volume of records that would need to be reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way the your request could be revised to allow the information to be retrieved within the fees limit.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB