M6 motorway speeding (413A/20)
Request
Please could you give me a breakdown of speeding tickets which were issued on the M6, between J5 and J10a, whilst the national speed limit applied (whilst there was no variable speed limit in place), between the dates of 1st January 2020 and 30th April 2020. In this breakdown, please could you also give the recorded speed of each vehicle breaking the speed limit?
Response
We can confirm that some relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the majority of the information is attached to this email I am afraid that I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please find attached our response.
Please find enclosed our response.
There were four tickets issued during the period 1st Jan 2020 – 30th April 2020.
Please note that the static cameras on the motorway only activate if the variable speed limit is in operation, beyond that the Central Motorway Police Group enforce the speed limit. The above four tickets were issued by officers.
The speeds that these four vehicles were travelling at were:
M6 North, J5 to J6 = 97 mph
M6, J5 to J6 = 90 mph
M6 BIRMINGHAM = 93 mph
M6 Northbound J10 = 110 mph
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.
As recommended as good practice by the Information Commissioner’s Office a version of this response may be published on the West Midlands Police website.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please be advised that any information released as a result of a Freedom of Information request, in effect, is being released into the public domain. Therefore, it could subsequently be published or would have to be made available to any member of the public if it were requested.
Any information that relates to an individual, or from which an individual could be identified, constitutes personal data and to release information that constitutes personal data into the public domain contravenes the Data Protection Act and GDPR.
In releasing any dates / times of the tickets issued may potentially identify an individual and would therefore constitute a breach.
The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemption.
Section 40 (2) personal data
Section 40(2) is an absolute and class based exemption if to release the information exists would breach the third party’s data protection rights. In this case to release this personal information would not constitute fair processing of the data. As this exemption is class based I am not required to identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance I believe that the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release
Any further details regarding these incidents are exempt by the following:
Section 40 (2) – Personal information
Attachments
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