FOI 313-2025 / Mar 2025 / Highway Code
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 313-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 12th March 2025 as follows:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information regarding violations of Highway Code Rule 57 (failure to properly restrain animals in a vehicle):
- The total number of fines issued for breaches of Rule 57 over the last 3 years.
- The total revenue generated from these fines for each year.
- A breakdown of the types of animals involved in these violations.
For clarity, I would appreciate it if the breakdown could include:
- The specific type of animal involved (e.g., dogs, cats, other pets).
- The number of fines issued for each type of animal.
- The revenue generated from fines related to each type of animal.
Please provide this data separately for each year so that a year-on-year comparison can be made.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not available in a readily retrievable format. Such offences would fall under ‘Driving without due care and attention’; however, there is no way of identifying where failure to properly restrain an animal was an element of the offence without reviewing each and every offence on an individual basis. I can advise that, for the stated period, there is a total of 1569 offences, and an estimate of the time involved is set out below:
1569 offences at 5 mins each = 7845 / 60 = 131 hours
Therefore, the work involved in locating and retrieving the requested information exceeds the cost threshold of £450, which equates to 18 hours work at a standard rate of £25 per hour, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with section 12 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 manually reviewed, I am unable to suggest a way to do this 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