Winter maintenance programme for A85: FOI release

We understand that BEAR Scotland manages and maintains the A85 on behalf of Transport Scotland and are looking to obtain full details of the winter maintenance programme that was in effect for the A85 at the time of the accident. We are seeking to establish the priority status of the A85 in terms of your winter maintenance programme. What treatment was carried out at the locus in the 48 hours prior to the accident and what times was the treatment undertaken? When was the road treated following the accident?

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.

In response to the first part of your request, our North West Winter Maintenance Programme, is available at the following link; 

https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/41050/nw-winter-service-plan-2017-18.pdf 

In relation to your questions regarding what treatment was carried out at the locus in the 48 hours prior to the accident, what times were the treatments undertaken and also when the road was treated following the accident, our Winter action plan is available at Annex A. This details time and locations of treatment. The spreader that covers the A85 at the location is R40-23, which has been highlighted in yellow on the plan.

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.

Below is an outline of the times and treatments undertaken; 

16 January 2018 

• The action plan on the 16 January 2018 was a treatment at 1500 – 1700 hrs.
• Full Route Treatment (TF), (plough and treat) from 1700 till 0000 hrs.

17 January 2018 

• TF (plough and treat) from 0000 till 0300 hrs on 17 January,
• Dedicated patrol from 0000 – 0900 hrs,
• Then another treatment at 0300 – 0500 hrs,
• Then TF (plough and treat) after 0500 hrs till midday,
• Treatment at 1500 – 1700 hrs,
• Then a TF (plough and treat) from 1700 till 0000 hrs.

18 January 2018 

• Then a TF (plough and treat) from 0000 till 0300 hrs,
• Dedicated patrol 00.00 – 09.00 hrs,

• Then another treatment at 0300 – 0500 hrs,
• The action plan on the 18 January 2018 was a treatment at 1500 – 1700 hrs,
• Then a TF (plough and treat) from 1700 till 0300 hrs on 19 January,
• Then another treatment at 0300 – 0500 hrs on 19 January,
• Then TF after till midday on 19 January.

The spreader used 27.6t of salt between 15.00 and midnight on the 18 January. 7.19t of salt was used for the 15.00 – 17.00 hrs treatment and 20.41t during the dedicated patrols.

In addition, at the time of the accident, the road was wet and treated with exceptionally high residual salt 105%. This would indicate that at the time of the RTC the road was well treated with no indication of ice forming. The closest weather station to the accident is Dalmally. The weather station data for this is available at Annex B.