| answer text |
<p>The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has held meetings throughout the past
year with a number of diplomatic missions and international organisations about outstanding
London Congestion Charge bills and fines, and other debts. The subject of a mission’s
outstanding debts is also raised with all incoming Heads of Mission.</p><p>In March
this year FCO officials wrote to all diplomatic missions with unpaid London Congestion
Charges over £100,000 requesting payment of the outstanding fines as a matter of priority
and to give them the opportunity to pay the outstanding fines, or to dispute them
with Transport for London (TfL), before we published the details.</p><p>Statistics
provided by TfL show that the vast majority (around two thirds) of diplomatic missions
pay Congestion Charges. Diplomatic missions which do not pay, claim that the Congestion
Charge is a form of tax from which they should be exempt under the Vienna Convention
on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) 1961. The view of the Government is that there are
no legal grounds to exempt diplomats and they are therefore expected to pay Congestion
Charges. Officials from the FCO, the Department for Transport (DfT) and TfL continue
work to identify a solution to the legal impasse with non-paying missions.</p>
|
|
