Picture copyright PA Media Diplomats
Picture copyright
PA Media
Diplomats owe greater than £116m to Transport for London for unpaid congestion expenses, the International Workplace has revealed.
The US Embassy owes the biggest quantity at nearly £12.5m, whereas the Embassy of Japan owes over £8.5m.
The diplomats additionally owe over £200,000 in unpaid parking fines, with Nigeria’s Excessive Fee owing over £47,000.
International Secretary Dominic Raab stated the federal government had held conferences with embassies to “press for fee”.
The figures for the congestion cost – the payment for many autos travelling in central London, which works in direction of funding into public transport – dates again to between 2003 and 2018, with a complete of £116,868,825 excellent from embassies.
The parking fines date from 2018 and complete £200,686.
The congestion expenses for the US alone rose by greater than £520,000 in a single 12 months, while Japan’s went up by nearly £500,000 for a similar interval.
In addition to topping the listing for parking fines – up by £8,000 from the earlier 12 months – Nigeria was third on the congestion cost listing, owing over £7m.
Congestion cost – prime 5 embassies by quantity owed
| Embassy | Variety of fines | Quantity owed |
|---|---|---|
| Embassy of america of America | 102,255 | £12,446,845 |
| Embassy of Japan | 69,690 | £8,510,650 |
| Excessive Fee for the Federal Republic of Nigeria | 58,102 | £7,063,965 |
| Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for India | 47,654 | £6,009,905 |
| Embassy of the Russian Federation | 48,535 | £5,721,865 |
Parking fines – prime 5 embassies by quantity owed
| Embassy | Quantity owed |
|---|---|
| Excessive Fee for the Federal Republic of Nigeria | £47,165 |
| Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan | £19,765 |
| Excessive Fee for the Republic of Zambia | £17,000 |
| Embassy of the United Arab Emirates | £11,565 |
| Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia | £9,785 |
In a written assertion, Mr Raab stated in addition to the conferences, the federal government had written to diplomatic missions and worldwide organisations with money owed “giving them the chance to both pay excellent money owed, or attraction in opposition to particular fines in the event that they thought of that they’d been recorded incorrectly”.
Nevertheless, a variety of embassies declare that beneath the Vienna Conference on Diplomatic Relations, they don’t have to pay taxes, which they think about these charges to be.
A International Workplace spokesman stated they didn’t imagine there have been any authorized grounds to exempt diplomats from paying the congestion cost, including: “The cost is akin to a parking payment or a toll cost, which diplomatic missions and worldwide organisations are required to pay.”
And when it got here to parking fines, he added: “Underneath the Vienna Conference on Diplomatic Relations, these entitled to immunity are anticipated to obey the legislation and we due to this fact anticipate all international diplomats to pay their parking fines.
“Because the [foreign secretary’s statement] factors out, we have now made a concerted effort to induce missions to pay their fines.”
The BBC has contacted the US, Japanese and Nigerian embassies for a response.