Summary: On 11 April 2005 the complainant requested the salary, contact details and expenses of the Town Clerk of North Down Borough Council. The Council informed the complainant that the information would not be released as it was considered that it was being sought for vexatious purposes. On 18 May 2005 the complainant approached the Commissioner who contacted the public authority, having investigated, was satisfied that the public authority had wrongly sought to rely upon section 14(1) (vexatiousness) of the Act. The public authority accepted that the request was not vexatious and the information was released to the complainant. The Commissioner found that the public authority had breached section 1 of the Act in wrongly seeking to rely upon the exemption under section 14(1).
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 14 - Complaint Upheld