Diplomats ‘owe £116m in unpaid congestion charges’

FOREIGN DIPLOMATS in London owe more than £116 min congestion charge debt, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has revealed.

In a written statement to MPs, Mr Raab revealed the North American diplomatic mission to the UK owed the most, with unpaid congestion charge debts of £12,446,845.

There were 102,255 individual fines outstanding between the charge being introduced in February 2003 and the end of 2018 for US embassy staff alone.

Unpaid congestion charges and fines incurred by all diplomatic missions and international organisations in London since the scheme was introduced until the end of 2018 was £116,868,825 in total.

The Japanese diplomatic mission had the second largest debt, owing £8,510,650 after incurring 69,690 fines, according to the figures supplied to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) by Transport for London (TfL).

Nigeria was third with debts of £7,063,965 from 58,102 fines.

Mr Raab said: “FCO officials write to diplomatic missions and international organisations with large congestion charge debts annually, to encourage payment.”

The Foreign Secretary said that two diplomats were expelled from the Saudi Arabian diplomatic mission in 2018 for three alleged offences involving driving under the influence of alcohol.

He added: “We define serious offences as those which could, in certain circumstances, carry a penalty of 12 months’ imprisonment or more. Around 23,000 people are entitled to diplomatic or international organisation related immunity in the UK and the majority of diplomats and dependants abide by UK law.

“The number of alleged serious offences committed by members of the diplomatic community in the UK is proportionately low.”