FOI Road Closures Following Fatal RTC's (273-2024/25)

Request

Q1. Please show all recorded information about how this police force closes roads following incidents such as fatal accidents.

Q2. Specifically, is it policy to station a police vehicle at the side of a road some 500 metres away from such an incident whilst not having a warranted constable present?

Q3. If a police vehicle is present some 500 metres away, parked at the side of the road but displaying no road closed signage, no barriers, and no personnel outside that vehicle, does the police force consider that to be effective notice to motorists that the road has been closed?

Q4. If a member of police staff, such as an unwarranted community support officer, is sitting inside such a police vehicle with all its doors and windows closed and there is no signage on display to indicate a road closure, does the police force consider that to be sufficient indication to motorists that a road is closed?

Q5. If that person has parked the vehicle poorly, with adequate passage room and width for a vehicle to pass it by, how would such a motorist determine that he was travelling on a road deemed closed?

Q6. How many community support officers have delegated powers to enable them to close roads?

Q7. How are members of public to differentiate these people from other community support officers?

On 19 June 2022 there was a fatal accident at 10:16 hrs on the B1222 Bishopdyke Road at the junction with Whitecote Lane. The location involved a motorcyclist who had just departed Squire's Cafe Bar and had travelled only approx 400 metres towards the A1.The police were in attendance for several hours and claim to have requested road closures in the immediate area.

Please supply all recorded information including :

Q8. Who made the closures request

Q9. What body was requested to close the roads

Q10. How the request was made. Please supply phone records, whether mobile or landline. Email logs or radio records.

Q11. Who the requests were made to, whether council employees, for example, and who the individuals are.

Q12. What office was contacted to request the road closures and what responses were received back.

Q13. What follow-up processes were undertaken if no satisfactory road closures were received from the council.

Q14. What normal procedures are invoked when police require road closures and signage to be supplied by third parties such as councils, and whether these were followed for this incident.

Q15. What are the full requirements for a warranted officer to use force against a member of the public?

Specifically, where no offence has been committed.

No arrest has been made.

The constable is not displaying shoulder numbers or similar identification.

The constable has failed to activate or even wear his mandatory body worn video.

The constable has failed to record his use of force, such as handcuffs.

The constable has failed to report the incident so the complainant is met with unknowing staff when he makes a formal complaint against the constable

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.

I note that under Regulation 5(2) of the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, we are permitted to aggregate requests where they relate to any extent to the same or similar information and this aggregation applies to any requests that are received within a sixty working day period, including requests from any one individual or individuals considered to be acting in concert.

In this instance as we have received two requests for information within a sixty working day period which are substantially similar. Therefore under Regulation 5(2) we have aggregated these requests. Therefore, we recommend submitting single, complete requests for information across the full  timeframe rather than splitting the information you require amongst different requests and time periods as this will not circumvent the cost limit.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

Q1 – Q5. No information held - North Yorkshire Police follow the national guidance detailed on the following link Management of incidents | College of Policing

Q6. All community support officers have powers to close roads. As at 1 July 2024 North Yorkshire Police had FTE of 140.95 PCSO’s

Q7. The information you have requested is published on the North Yorkshire Police webpage under the following link.

Five facts about PCSOs | North Yorkshire Police

I have therefore decided to exempt providing you with a response to Q7 pursuant to Section 21 Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

Q8. I am exmepting any information to this question pursuant to Section 40(2) – Personal Information. Please see the full exemption explanation below.

Q9 – 14. This information is not held. Please refer to the guidance for Q1.

Q15. No information held – North Yorkshire Police follow the national guidance detailed on the following link Legal framework | College of Policing

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 21 – Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

Section 21 is an absolute class based exemption and I am not required to consider the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

Section 40 – Personal Information

Where an individual can be identified by such data, releasing it would clearly breach the first data protection principle of being ‘fair’ to the data subject.

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 40(2) is an absolute class based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle; in that processing of personal data must be lawful and fair (DPA 2018 35(1), EUGDPR Article 5(1)).

This exemption applies because the right given under the FOI Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 2018 & EU General Data Protection Regulations, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure.  In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned. 

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.