FOI 467-2025 / Apr 2025 / Exempt MOT
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 467-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 24th April 2025 as follows:
Any incidents since 20 May 2018 where the owner of a motor vehicle has been stopped under the provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and subsequently been issued with a penalty for having a vehicle on the public highway in an unroadworthy condition where the vehicle is not required to have a valid MoT certificate on account of its age.
Please provide, where available, details of the vehicle, any defects recorded and the penalty issued.
Please see the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
Warwickshire Police are unable to confirm whether or not any information is held relevant to your request.
Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”
In order to determine if such information is or is not held and, if held, to ensure that all information is located, it would be necessary to review all offences where a vehicle could be considered to be in a roadworthy condition, including, but not limited to:
- Use a motor vehicle / trailer in a condition likely to cause danger of injury
- Use a passenger vehicle with tyres with insufficient tread - less than 1.6mm
- Use a motor vehicle / trailer with tyre with any of the ply / cord exposed
- Use a motor vehicle / trailer with tyre with lump / bulge / tear
- Use a motor vehicle / trailer with tyre with cut in the fabric
and then retrieve and review the relevant paperwork for those offences to ascertain whether there is mention of the vehicle in question not being required to have a valid MOT certificate on account of its age. During the requested period there are 410 offences in relation to those listed above and, at a conservative estimate of 10 minutes per record to retrieve and review, this would equate to in excess of 68 hours of work. Therefore, the cost of complying with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) would be above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with Section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please treat this letter as the Refusal Notice I am required to provide to you in respect of your 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 extent of the searches required, I am unable to suggest a way to revise your request into one which could be provided within the fees limit on this occasion.
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