Crimes reported at various London motorway services from 2020 to 2024

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.25.046538

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please provide me with the number of all reported crimes (broken down by each offence type), where the location of the alleged offence or the address of the victim was recorded as one of the following locations:

1. Moto Services Heston Eastbound, Phoenix Way, Heston, Hounslow, Middlesex TW5 9NB
2. Moto Services Heston Westbound, Phoenix Way, Heston, Hounslow, Middlesex TW5 9NB
3. Welcome Break London Gateway, Mill Hill, London, NW7 3HU 

Please provide figures for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Please provide the figures in a table listing each crime type (eg theft from a motor vehicle, criminal damage etc) against each year.

II. For theft from motor vehicle, please also provide figures where the value of the theft exceeds £20,000 for each year.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Additionally, the MPS neither confirms nor denies (NCND) that any other information is held relevant to your request by virtue of the following Freedom of Information Act exemption:

Section 40(5A)&(5B)(a)(i) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

You have requested crime data for specific named locations. The MPS neither confirms nor denies that any additional information is held relevant to your request as to do so may confirm whether any sexual offences have occurred at the locations mentioned in your request and if they have been reported to police. A confirmation or denial statement risks the identification of individuals linked to sexual offences.

A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. The Act is designed to place information into the public domain. Therefore, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered to be public information and must be communicated to any individual upon request. In accordance with this principle, the MPS adopts an applicant and motive blind approach when responding to requests for information. Therefore, any information disclosed under FOIA is not just a disclosure to the requestor but to the world.

Under Section 40 of the Act, Public Authorities can withhold information where its release would identify any living individual and breach the principles of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The definition of 'personal data' is far wider than simply the name or address of a living individual. 'Personal data' is defined in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act as data that relates to a living individual who can be identified from those data or from those data and other information that is in the possession of, or likely to come into the possession of, the data controller.

There is harm in confirming or denying whether any other information exists relevant to your request because, if information is held, the granular nature of your request risks the identification of individuals who may be linked to sexual offences.

If there were any additional information relevant to your request, if it were pieced together with information already in the public domain or known locally, there is a risk of identification of individuals linked to police investigations concerning sexual offences.
The MPS has an obligation to be extremely careful where data relates to victims of sexual offences.

Criminal Offence and Special Category data

The UK GDPR defines special category data as:

• personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin;
• personal data revealing political opinions;
• personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs;
• personal data revealing trade union membership;
• genetic data;
• biometric data (where used for identification purposes);
• data concerning health;
• data concerning a person’s sex life; and
• data concerning a person’s sexual orientation.

ICO guidance states that special category data includes personal data revealing or concerning the above types of data. Therefore, if you have inferred or guessed details about someone which fall into one of the above categories, this data may count as special category data.

The UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 recognise that criminal offence and special category data need more protection due to its sensitivity and potential to adversely affect the rights and freedoms of individuals which would have a high impact upon data subjects.

The MPS must take additional care in relation to the personal data of individuals who may have a strong expectation that related information would be held in confidence.
Victims of sexual offences - Section 1(2) of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 Act states that when someone is accused of a sexual offence, nothing can be reported that may lead to the identification of the victim.

FOIA disclosures are placed into the public domain and disclosures which appear harmless, pieced together with other disclosures can be used in a ‘mosaic effect’ to give a fuller picture to those wishing to evade detection and valuable intelligence to criminals.

Third parties may have access to additional information that would enable them to link the requested information to an individual. Confirmation may enable them to ascertain new information such as who has contacted police and / or been the subject of a police investigation. This is likely to be unfair to the victims, suspects, witnesses etc. involved as it would constitute personal data.

No inference should be taken from this notice that any additional information is held by the MPS relevant to your request.

Disclosure

Please refer to the spreadsheet below for the disclosed data.

Kindly ensure that the data is read in conjunction with the notes page of the attached spreadsheet to ensure correct interpretation of the data provided.