Mercedes

Summary

The request sought the Department of Infrastructure's agreement with Mercedes-Benz and results of bike rack trials on buses. The agreement was withheld due to commercial confidentiality and trade secrets, while the bike rack trial results were disclosed via a statement explaining the trial's termination due to safety concerns.

Key Facts

• The Mercedes-Benz agreement is exempt under sections 26 and 30 of the FOI Act due to breach of confidence and trade secrets.
• Disclosing the agreement could lead to litigation and loss of the Department's status as an Authorised Repairer.
• A trial of bike racks on single-decker buses was terminated before public service operation.
• The Chief Executive concluded the racks were unsafe for the Island's restricted, right-hand drive roads.
• The Department is considering alternative methods to encourage bus and bike travel, such as racks at major stops.

Data Disclosed

• 2020-11-26
• 2021-02-18
• 1579101
• 3 bike racks
• section 26
• section 30
• section 30(2)(a)

Exemptions Cited

• Section 26 (Actionable breach of confidence)
• Section 30 (Prejudice to commercial interests)
• Section 30(2)(a) (Trade secrets)

Original Request

I seek the publication of the agreement between the Department of Infrastructure and Mercedes Benz which accredits the DoI as a dealer for Mercedes Benz and as a service agent for Mercedes Benz bus and coach. This was referenced by Chief Executive Nick Black in a committee hearing on November 25. Furthermore, I seek the publication of the results of road trials of bike racks which were fitted to single decker buses as part of a trial.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Department of Infrastructure Sea Terminal Building, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 2RF

Contact: FOI Response Team/IB/MF Telephone: (01624) 686785 Email: dpo-doi@gov.im

Our ref: 1579101 18 February 2021

Dear ###

First we would like to apologise for the delay in responding to your request; this was due to the necessity of contacting third parties. Your request states (sic) - numbered for ease of reference:

"1. I seek the publication of the agreement between the Department of Infrastructure and Mercedes Benz which accredits the DoI as a dealer for Mercedes Benz and as a service agent for Mercedes Benz bus and coach. This was referenced by Chief Executive Nick Black in a committee hearing on November 25. 2. Furthermore, I seek the publication of the results of road trials of bike racks which were fitted to single decker buses as part of a trial." Question 1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is absolutely exempt under section 26 of the Act, as disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence and under section 30 as disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of both Mercedes Benz and the Department. In addition the Agreement is exempt from disclosure under section 30(2)(a) of the Act as it contains information which constitutes a trade secret. These sections are subject to public interest tests which have been combined and are summarised below.

Factors in favour of disclosure • Transparency and openness by disclosing the information • Accountability to the general public

Factors in favour of withholding • Harm to the commercial interests of Mercedes-Benz • The technical information and working process for Authorised Repairers is a trade secret carefully guarded by Mercedes • The Agreement between the Department and Mercedes-Benz contains clear and specific confidentiality clauses which, if broken by the Department, could lead to litigation and loss of the Department’s status as an Authorised Repairer for Mercedes-Benz • Both of these losses would have substantial financial repercussions to the Isle of Man Government and thus, the tax payer • Reputational damage to the DOI arising from disclosure of information which we have made a commitment to protect • Subsequently companies could be reluctant to do business with the Department thus limiting our ability to tender competitively and make best use of the tax payers’ money In taking these factors into account the Department has determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemptions outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information. Question 2. The Department’s Chief Executive Officer has provided the following comment in relation to this question: “I made the decisions about bike racks personally. We ordered 3 bike racks because this was the minimum number that we would need to equip buses to operate a service on a Douglas local route so that every service was operated by a bike rack fitted bus.
The first one was fitted and to a bus and used in manoeuvring and visibility trials. I spoke to a number of drivers and supervisory staff about their views. I tried to load and unload a bike from the rack. I noted that to secure the bike the cyclist would have to stand beyond the area of road protected by the bus itself, leaving the cyclist exposed to passing traffic at a time when he or she would be concentrating on the various locking and unlocking mechanisms of the rack. I checked the visibility and manoeuvrability myself.
I accept that these racks work successfully in places like the USA but I quickly concluded that they were not in my view going to work safely on the Island’s more restricted, right hand drive roads. I concluded that I could not guarantee that fitting these racks would be safe for drivers, passengers or other road users and on that basis terminated the trial before public services were operated. The Department would very much like to encourage people to replace car journeys with a journey made by bus and bike and is considering other ways of encouraging this change, such as providing bike racks near major bus stops.”

Please quote the reference number 1579101 in any future communications.

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Yours sincerely

FOI Response Team