November 2026

Joe Lycett was not only a Celebrity Traitor, he has also been (and this is surely much more important) an FOI requester.

Indeed the comedian proudly proclaims “I know what I’m doing with an FOI”. But to what extent does he?

Earlier this year he sent a request to Birmingham Council, prompted by his experience when he’d taken his boy to A&E at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Parking his car in a nearby street, he felt – not unreasonably – that it was a more pressing matter to get his son to A&E quickly, rather than immediately sort out the parking charge.

Once he was in the hospital he used his phone to pay for the parking, but later discovered that he’d been given a fine at about the same time. And not surprisingly he was a bit peeved about this.

So Lycett then sent an FOI request to the council asking for three years’ worth of data on its parking revenue from the streets by the children’s hospital.

All this was revealed in an interview he did earlier this year with his fellow comedic performer, Katherine Ryan, on her podcast, What’s My Age Again?

He told her that it’s “morally wrong” for the council to get revenue from parents who are rushing their children to A&E. So he wanted to know how much the council has made from this and he would like them to donate it to the hospital.

He also stated: “I know what I’m doing with an FOI”. Maybe Ryan isn’t quite so keen on citizen activism as Lycett is, as her response to his story was to say “it wouldn’t be likeable coming from anyone else to hear the phrase ‘I know my way around an FOI’”.

(Declaration of interest: I know lots of very likeable people who definitely know what they’re doing with an FOI.)

So naturally I thought it was my duty to scrutinise whether Joe Lycett really does know his way around an FOI request.

Birmingham Council, despite its extensive recent difficulties in service delivery and financial management, does nevertheless have a good FOI disclosure log.

And a quick search of it suggests that this must be Lycett’s request and answer.

Lycett’s request is admirably specific, concise and clear (which are indeed important characteristics of a good FOI), and it successfully obtains detailed figures, street by street. For example, the council received £166,343.66 in parking income from Whittall Street in 2023/24.

But I’d suggest that there’s a more fundamental problem. These are just streets close to the hospital, which is in the centre of Birmingham. Lots of the people parking there will have nothing to do with the hospital. And the council will clearly have no idea which parking payments are related to taking children to A&E.

FOI is about getting information that public bodies actually hold. And the council won’t hold the figures that Lycett really wants. The information he has obtained isn’t of much use.

Sadly I can’t see how Lycett can get the exact data he’s after, but if he’s keen to pursue this and related issues, I’d suggest instead making requests about complaints and appeals from people who’ve had parking fines while taking their children to A&E, for any correspondence between the hospital trust and the council about parking, for the numbers of times the hospital validates visitors for discounts at the nearby commercial car parks which the hospital recommends using, and so on.

His request was better on tactics than strategy. But given he’s a comedian, the obvious score to give him for it must be 8 out of 10.

I’ve booked tickets for Lycett’s upcoming show. Presumably he’ll do lots of Traitors stuff, but I’m hoping (whatever Katherine Ryan thinks) that he will also find space for some good FOI material.

And if Joe (or Katherine) is reading this, I’d recommend this book.