Information Commissioner's Office

Durham Constabulary

3 July 2008, Police and criminal justice

The complainant requested information about vehicle recovery work carried out by a particular operator contracted to the public authority to carry out this work within a specified area. The public authority disclosed the total number of recoveries made within the period specified in the request, but withheld the remainder of the information under section 43(2) (commercial interests). The public authority later amended its stance in respect to part of the request and stated that the information requested was not held. The Commissioner finds that section 43(2) is not engaged as there is no real or significant risk of prejudice to commercial interests and the public authority is required to disclose the withheld information. The Commissioner further finds that the public authority was correct in concluding that it did not hold some of the information requested, but that it failed to comply with section 10(1) in not informing the complainant that this information was not held within 20 working days of receipt of the request.

FOI 43: Upheld