Chief Constable of West Midlands Police

The complainant has requested information from West Midlands Police (the Police) regarding a road traffic offence. The Police relied on section 40(2) of FOIA (third party personal information) to withhold the information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Police has not correctly relied on section 40(2) of FOIA to withhold the information. The Commissioner requires Police to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation. Disclose the requested information, with appropriate redactions made to the footage to obscure the driver’s face and the vehicle registration number wherever they appear. If the footage captures the driver’s voice, this should also be appropriately disguised. The Police must take these steps within 30 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.