By Lord Faulkner of Worcester - 5th July 2011
Lord Faulkner of Worcester claims more must be done to ensure that diplomatic missions do not refuse to pay the London congestion charge.
"It" caused Ken Livingstone to call a previous American ambassador "a chiselling little crook"; Boris Johnson raised it directly with President Obama during his recent state visit, and it remains a running sore in the otherwise excellent relationship between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the US government.
"It" is the refusal by the US embassy – and one-third of other foreign missions in London – to pay the congestion charge. The amount owing from unpaid penalty charge notices (PCNs) had reached a staggering £51,550,184 by 28 April 2011. The US are top of the list, having received 47,559 PCNs from 17 February 2003, owing £5,291,520 in fines.
Next on the list is the embassy of the Russian Federation which owes the people of London £4,416,720 in fines, followed by the embassies of Japan and the Federal Republic of Germany.
This is a problem which has remained unresolved since the congestion charge was first introduced, and perplexed the previous Labour government as much as the present one. The view of both is that it is a charge for a service rendered under Article 34 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and not a tax. Payment of the charge buys the right to enter the designated area in a vehicle, and the proceeds are spent on improving the transport system of London, from which diplomats as much as anyone else benefit.
British diplomats in our missions abroad, particularly in the States, are scrupulous in paying road and bridge tolls, and they are equivalent to London's congestion charge.
My question is intended to draw attention to what is clearly a most unsatisfactory situation. The government and Transport for London are unable to recover these payments through the courts because foreign embassies claim diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution. I want more efforts to be made to secure the money owed to Londoners from embassies which can most certainly afford to pay.
Lord Faulkneris a former government relations adviser. He was raised to the peerage in 1999.
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