EIR/202600514588 · FOI/EIR · not held
Transport Scotland M8 junction 6a traffic management information: EIR release
Information requested
I am writing to submit a Freedom of Information request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
I am requesting all information held by Transport Scotland relating to roadworks and traffic management at or around Junction 6a of the M8 motorway on or around 14 March 2026, including both the eastbound and westbound carriageways.
Specifically, I request:
All traffic management plans approved or in operation at or around M8 Junction 6a on or around 14 March 2026, including any contraflow arrangements Any incident reports, operational logs, or control room records relating to traffic conditions at this location on that date, including records of delays experienced in both directions Any records relating to vehicles using the hard shoulder at or around M8 Junction 6a on or around 14 March 2026, including any reports made to or by Traffic Scotland, Police Scotland, or any contracted network operator Any communications between Transport Scotland and Police Scotland regarding traffic conditions or incidents at this location on that date Any complaints received by Transport Scotland or its contractors regarding traffic management at this location on or around that date The name of the contractor responsible for managing this section of the M8 network at the time
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.
Q1. All traffic management plans approved or in operation at or around M8 Junction 6a on or around 14 March 2026, including any contraflow arrangements.
A1. Please see Annex A for the Traffic Management Plans for the location and date 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 (names on drawings) 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.
Q2. Any incident reports, operational logs, or control room records relating to traffic conditions at this location on that date, including records of delays experienced in both directions.
A2. Please see Annex B for the ‘Daily Operational logs’ which summarise incidents recorded on the network (via the control room / Traffic Scotland).
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 (vehicle registrations and names in logs) 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.
Q3. Any records relating to vehicles using the hard shoulder at or around M8 Junction 6a on or around 14 March 2026, including any reports made to or by Traffic Scotland, Police Scotland, or any contracted network operator.
A3. 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. Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested because There were no reports received of vehicles using the hard-shoulder, other than those referenced as being broken down or abandoned in Annex B.
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 records relating to vehicles using the hard shoulder, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
Q4. Any communications between Transport Scotland and Police Scotland regarding traffic conditions or incidents at this location on that date.
A4. Please see Annex B for these communications.
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 (vehicle registrations and names in logs) 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.
Q5. Any complaints received by Transport Scotland or its contractors regarding traffic management at this location on or around that date.
A5. Five complaints were received by our Operating Company, Amey, in relation to delays arising from these works, each of specifically related to the duration of the delays and resultant inconvenience caused. 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. Transport Scotland does not have the information you have requested because there were no complaints received by Transport Scotland regarding traffic management at this location on or around that 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 complaints received by Transport Scotland regarding traffic management at this location on or around this date, we cannot provide information which we do not hold.
Q6. The name of the contractor responsible for managing this section of the M8 network at the time.
A6. The Scottish Roads Partnership.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
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. 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 (names on drawings) 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.