IN THE FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL APPEAL: EA/2017/0062

GENERAL REGULATORY CHAMBER

(INFORMATION RIGHTS)

BETWEEN:

Appellant
and

THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER

Respondent

REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO APPLY

FOR PERMISSION TO APPEAL TO UPPER TRIBUNAL

1. This is a request for an extension of time to apply for permission to appeal to the
Upper Tribunal in accordance with paragraph 4 of rule 42 of the Tribunal
Procedure (First-tier) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009.

Statement of reasons

2. An application to apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal was

unwittingly submitted out of time on 17 November 2017 at 23:57.

3. The Tribunal refused permission in a decision sent to the Appellant on 25

November 2017 with the reason being that the document was delivered 6 hours
and 57 minutes after the 28 day time limit.
4. The application is re-submitted knowing (this time) it is outside the time limit. The
reason being that the Appellant was unaware of a cut-off point (17:00) after which
the 28 day time limit would be exceeded.

5. The Tribunal may consider ignorance to be no valid reason. However, the failure
to comply with the tribunal rules by exceeding the time limit by a few hours is put
into perspective when considered in context of the alleged errors of law in the
decision, both number and degree.

6. It should be acknowledged in the Appellants defence that he has been

disadvantaged by an uneven playing field in respect of access to public funding for
legal representation. The Commissioner has access whereas the Appellant does
not. While the relevant legislation provides a specific time (before 5pm) the
Tribunals instructions1 and Guidance notes2 only refer to 28 days.

25 November 2017

1
Tribunals notification (20 October 2017) of the Appellants right of appeal against the decision and the
time within which the right may be exercised
2
http://formfinder.hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/t95-eng.pdf