Publication - FOI/EIR release

M8 westbound carriageway defects and maintenance: EIR release

Published: 3 April 2024
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202400391951
Date received: 5 January 2024
Date responded: 26 January 2024

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Information requested

In relation to the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13, and covering the period of August 2020 to 5 January, you asked for the following:

1. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing all reports of defects, including to Vehicle Restraint Systems, on the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

2. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing any remedial work or road maintenance tasks (including to Vehicle Restraint Systems ) carried out to the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

3. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing the roads inspection regime, inspection frequency, dates of inspection, inspection manual used and inspection records for the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

4. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing any reported complaints in relation to the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway (including those concerning Vehicle Restraint Systems), between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

5. Information including sight of any written or electronic communication detailing any reports of incidents occurring on the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

6. Confirmation of the mapping reference system used to record incidents and road defects on the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

7. Any photographs taken showing Vehicle Restraint Systems in relation to complaints, maintenance works, inspections or incidents concerning the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Response to your request

1&2. – Please see Annexes A-D to this response for a copy of defect and inspection reports for the location and date range requested.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

3. Please see Annexes E-G to the response for copies of the Trunk Road Inspection Manuals which were in place over the date range requested.

4. Please see Annex H to this response for a copy of complaints made to the Customer Care Line for the location and time frame requested. There have been no other relevant complaints made.

5. Please see Annex I to this response for a copy of all incidents logged for the location and time period requested.

6. Our Asset Management Performance System (AMPS) has been in place from 1 April 2022. Before AMPS our Integrated Roads Information System (IRIS) was used to record all incidents and defects on the trunk road network.

7. Under the terms of the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs (information not held), Transport Scotland is not required to provide information which it does not have. We do not have the information you have requested because no photographs are held which show Vehicle Restraint Systems in relation to complaints, maintenance works, inspections or incidents concerning the westbound carriageway of the M8 motorway, between Junctions 12 and 13 from August 2020 to date.

This exception is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. While we recognise that there may be some public interest in information about Vehicle Restraint Systems, clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

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