A Croydon resident claims Croydon Council wanted to charge him more than £450 for a simple Freedom of Information request.
Peter Morgan's request for a list of meetings between the council and Transport for London (TfL) to discuss the Tramlink extension was turned down because the town hall said it would cost them more than £450 to carry out.
Outraged by the decision Mr Morgan turned to TfL with the same request. Mr Morgan said TfL handed over the information "with little fuss".
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Mr Morgan, who is a member of the Croydon Road User Forum, was concerned about the proposed Tramlink extension to Crystal Palace.
The extension would see the number of trams that run through the town centre loop increase by a third - a point that Mr Morgan said will bring traffic chaos to Croydon.
He said: "The subtext to this is that firstly the council is desperate to get Tramlink extended, just as it was to get it built in the first place, and is desperate not to allow anything to get in the way of this, such as problems with providing for the needs of general traffic in Croydon town centre.
"The nonsensical suggestion that it would cost more than £450 to provide the information just leads me to believe that Croydon Council is hiding something - they know it will make traffic unbearable in an around the town centre but they are blinkered."
Mr Morgan added: "They are determined to shut me out because they know I raised awkward questions about the original scheme and will do again with this scheme."
A spokesman for the Office of the Information Commissioner said a Freedom of Information request costs organisations £20 an hour.
That means the council's estimated it would take 22 and a half hours - or almost three full working days - to collate the list.
A council spokeswoman said: "Mr Morgan submitted three separate requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act, all on the contact council officers have had with London Trams this year by either meeting, telephone, email or post, including dates, times and a statement on the purpose of each contact.
"It would have taken one person two-and-a-half working days to locate, retrieve and provide Mr Morgan with the information which exceeds the £450 limit set by the the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Regulations.
"If TfL collate information differently from the Council, then it is possible that they are able to retrieve the information quicker and provide Mr Morgan with the information within the £450 limit."
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