DfT Missing Emails   16 February 2010

Department for Transport civil servants face criminal investigation over missing Heathrow emails

Civil servants from the Department for Transport (DfT) are facing a criminal investigation over missing emails about the consultation into the expansion of Heathrow. It is alleged that the officials unlawfully got rid of emails to and from the airport’s operator, BAA, between September and November 2007 as the government prepared to push through its controversial plans for a third runway.

The allegations came to light after the Conservative MP for Putney Justine Greening, a member of David Cameron’s Shadow Cabinet, spotted gaps in email conversations between transport officials and BAA. She had requested a number of emails under the Freedom of Information Act. Earlier emails had shown evidence of collusion between DfT civil servants and BAA in drawing up the consultation into Heathrow expansion.

The Information Commissioner’s Office, staffed by former police officers, has asked to interview civil servants at the DfT about the apparent destruction of evidence.

Read the full story in the Sunday Times..


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