Skip to main content

Foreign embassies 'owe £143m' in London congestion charges

Transport for London figures suggest US and Japanese diplomats owe the most
By Adam Hill May 21, 2024 Read time: 2 mins
Who's not paying? (© Anizza | Dreamstime.com)

Foreign embassies in UK capital London owe a total of £143.5m in unpaid congestion charge fees, according to Transport for London (TfL).

TfL's figures cover a 20-year period from 2003, when the charge was introduced, to the end of 2023.

At the top of the list are US diplomats, who owe £14.6m, TfL says, while the embassy of Japan owes £10m.

The congestion charge (which is separate from London's ultra-low emission zone charge) is a £15 daily fee to drive in the city centre from 7:00-18:00 Monday-Friday and 12:00-18:00 Saturday-Sunday and bank holidays. There is no charge between Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Other embassies which TfL says owe significant money include India (£8.5m), Nigeria (£8.4m) and China (£7.9m).

At the bottom of the list, the Embassy of the Republic of Togo has the smallest outstanding debt - just £40.

TfL takes the situation seriously.

"We and the UK government are clear that the congestion charge is a charge for a service and not a tax," it says in a statement. 

"This means that diplomats are not exempt from paying it. The majority of embassies in London do pay the charge, but there remains a stubborn minority who refuse to do so, despite our representations through diplomatic channels."

"We will continue to pursue all unpaid congestion charge fees and related penalty charge notices and are pushing for the matter to be taken up at the International Court of Justice."

In a statement, the US embassy in London said: “In accordance with international law as reflected in the 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, our position is that the congestion charge is a tax from which diplomatic missions are exempt."

“Our longstanding position is shared by many other diplomatic missions in London.”

Related Content

  • Contactless payments introduced on London's buses
    December 14, 2012
    Bus passengers in London can now use their use their contactless debit, credit or charge card to touch in on the yellow Oyster card readers and pay the single Oyster fare on any of London's 8,500 buses. Introducing the scheme, Transport for London (TfL) says the new payment option will also be good news for the approximately 36,000 people per day who board a bus and find they have insufficient pay as you go balance on their Oyster to pay for their journey as they will be able to use the other card they may
  • Intelligence-led approach to combat drink and drug driving
    August 11, 2016
    The latest national figures show that forces across the UK followed a targeted approach that saw an increase in alcohol tests showing a positive, failed or refused reading. While the percentage of drivers tested reduced, officers targeted drink drive hotspots using an intelligence-led approach. The figures show that a total of 45,267 breath tests were ministered; 4,539, or 10 per cent, were positive, refused or failed of total tested that were positive, failed or refused. A total of 279 drug field impair
  • The great pay divide
    April 2, 2014
    Public acceptance is crucial for the acceptance of managed and express lanes as Jon Masters discovers. Lists of proposed highway expansion projects introducing variably priced toll lanes continue to lengthen. Managed lanes, or express lanes to some, are gaining support as a politically favourable way of adding capacity and reducing acute congestion on principal highways. In Florida, for example, the managed lanes on the 95 Express are claimed to have significantly increased average peak-time speeds on tolle
  • London transport to get contactless payment
    July 28, 2014
    Millions of customers are set for easier and more convenient journeys from 16 September, when Transport for London (TfL) will introduce contactless payments for all pay as you go customers on the Tube, London Overground, DLR and trams in addition to the capital's buses. The new option means that passengers will no longer be any need to top up Oyster card balances because fares are charged directly to payment card accounts. Contactless payments - credit, debit, charge or pre-paid cards or devices - work i