IN THE MATTER OF AN APPEAL TO THE FIRST TIER TRIBUNAL

UNDER SECTION 57 OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Appeal No. EA/2017/0062

BETWEEN:

Appellant
and

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
Respondent

DECISION ON AN APPLICATION FOR

PERMISSION TO APPEAL

1. The Appellant challenged a decision by the Respondent that his requests for
information were vexatious. The First-tier Tribunal upheld the First
Respondents decision notice by a decision dated 18 October 2017 and
received by the Appellant on Friday 20 October 2017.

2. By An Application for Permission to Appeal to the Upper Tribunal dated 25

November the Appellant has sought leave to appeal. The grounds of appeal
set out in the form are:-

Alleged errors of law

Misapplying the legal test in the judgment of the Upper Tribunal, IC v
Dransfield [2012] UKUT440 (AAC), to arrive at a decision of vexatiousness
Failing to adequately support the Tribunals decisions
Lack of objectivity
Taking into account irrelevant factors
failure to take account of relevant factors

3. Rule 42 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory

Chamber) Rules 2009 S.I. 2009 No.1976 (L.20) provides that an application
for permission to appeal must be made within 28 days of the decision. If it is
 made late the application must include a request for an extension of time and
the reason why the application was not provided in time.

4. On the form the Appellant has ticked the box asking for the time for submitting
an appeal to be extended. In the section for stating the reasons for the late
application he has stated The reasons are attached to this form. The other
attachments to the email sending the application are a copy of the original
decision finding his requests for information the paradigm of vexatiousness.
and a decision I made on 20/11/2017 refusing to entertain a purported
application for permission to appeal on the grounds that the application was
out of time. His email states:- Please find attached re-submitted application
(including request for extension of time) for permission to appeal to the Upper
Tribunal in accordance with rule 42 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier)
(General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009. This is inaccurate since rule
42(4) provides:-
(4) If the person seeking permission to appeal sends or delivers the
application to the Tribunal later than the time required by paragraph (2) or by
any extension of time under rule 5(3)(a) (power to extend time)
(d) the application must include a request for an extension of time and the
reason why the application was not provided in time; and
(e) unless the Tribunal extends time for the application under rule 5(3)(a)
(power to extend time) the Tribunal must not admit the application
5. The application does not contain any reason why the application was not
made in time. Accordingly the Tribunal has no power to admit this application
and therefore this application must fail.
6. In accordance with the requirements of rule 42(4)(e) this application is
refused.

C Hughes
Judge
29 November 2017