Chief Constable Lincolnshire Police

The complainant has requested various pieces of information about stolen vehicles. Lincolnshire Police refused to comply with the requests, citing section 12(1) (Cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit). The Commissioner found that some of the requests were not valid requests within the meaning of section 8(1)(c) of FOIA, and so Lincolnshire Police was not required to comply with them. However, it was not entitled to use its costs estimate for dealing with those invalid requests, as a basis for refusing to comply with the other, valid requests. The Commissioner’s decision is that Lincolnshire Police was not entitled to rely on section 12(1) to refuse to comply with the valid requests. The Commissioner also found that Lincolnshire Police did not properly comply with the duty to provide advice and assistance, under section 16. As the complainant has since submitted refined requests which Lincolnshire Police has indicated could be complied with without exceeding the cost limit, the Commissioner does not require any steps.