Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
“Told by police inspector on 28/03/20 , this Force is issuing any tickets re Corona Virus Act 2020 offences , I find that unacceptable , is this policy correct ?“
In Response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
As the information you have requested is accessible by other means I have not provided you with a copy of the information and will rely on Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore consider this a refusal for your request.
I have provided an explanation to this exemption below.
Section 21 (1) - Information accessible by other means
Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant is exempt information.
This information has been widely reported in the national press, via news items on TV broadcasts and in the press, both national and regional. Additionally it can also be found on the Northumbria Police website.
The information you are asking for is therefore freely and widely available. The below are just some examples of press releases on this subject.
https://www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/COVID-19/Documents/What-constitutes-a-reasonable-excuse.pdf
