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Boris Johnson urges Obama to make US embassy pay £3m C-charge fines
Katharine Barney04.03.09
The American embassy owes Transport for London nearly £3million in unpaid congestion charges and penalty charge notices, it was revealed today.
The shortfall has been mounting since the zone was introduced in 2003 after the embassy claimed it was exempt from fees.
Now Mayor Boris Johnson has said he would like President Barack Obama to rethink the policy.
Several embassies, including the US, say they are not required to pay the charge because of exemptions dating back to the Vienna Convention of 1969.
However TfL insists that it is a service charge which embassies must pay.
The call comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown meets President Obama in Washington.
Mr Johnson said he hoped the new ambassador would reconsider the issue.
He said: "It is my hope that we will see a more co-operative approach from the United States Embassy.
"TfL continues to work with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to persuade all embassies to meet their responsibilities and pay the congestion charge.
"More than 70 per cent of the diplomatic missions in the capital do pay the charge. TfL is actively seeking a positive resolution of this issue for all missions not currently paying the charge, including the US."
In 2006 Ken Livingstone referred to the then US ambassador Robert Tuttle as a "chiselling little crook".
Mr Tuttle has now left the post and no new appointment has been made.
However Louis Susman, one of Obama's biggest fundraisers, has been tipped for the post.
Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem Assembly Member who asked if the Mayor was going to ask the embassy to reconsider, said: "The amount now owed by the US Embassy to Londoners is staggering. The money, far from being insignificant, would make a real difference - for example funding miles of new cycle routes or numerous improvements to pedestrian crossings.
"A new US ambassador will shortly be appointed following the election of President Obama and I can't think of a better start to a new relationship between Londoners and the US than a change in policy from the US Embassy."
Other embassies which do not pay the charge include the Russian embassy, which owes more than £1.8million, and the Japanese embassy which in November last year owed £1.77million.
At that time foreign embassies owed TfL a total of £23million, with the US being the worst offender.
In 2006 The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) finally agreed that its diplomats in London should pay the Congestion Charge, and has paid £99,950 for outstanding fines accrued by the Embassy from February 2003 to March 2006.
Reader views (24)
'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP BORIS' No can do.
Regards Barack
- Mr S.Port, London
If the US carries on refusing to pay we should fit all our embassy cars in the US with bull bars and order them to drive through the barriers on their toll roads.
- Alex, London
"Boris Johnson urges Obama to make US embassy pay £3m C-charge fines"
Ahhhhh, that might partially explain the chummy approaches by GB and the knighthoods being doled out to unsuitable characters, begging for a few quid for the coffers. Are the US any more likely to pay up than the others who owe similar debts? Unlikely - and I actually like the yanks! I won't bother reading the predictable vitriol by the anti-American-whenever-whatever brigade, even if we superficially agree about this debt.
- Rogan, Irving
C'mon Boris, the con charge is just a tax and all embassy staff should be exempt. For that matter so should the rest of us.....
- Dave, London
If it's a service charge then can someone tell me what service we get for it? Because it's certainly not reduced journey times!
- Jonathan, London
Of course it's a tax!
- Tangomike, Kensington, London
There is a crucial difference between road tolls (which US diplomats pay) and the Congestion Charge. Road tolls almost without fail are designed to pay for the upkeep and construction of the road/bridge. The Congestion Charge is not - it is defined as a tax, and most of the major EU embassies do not pay it either. The US did in fact pay it, until the former Mayor added 60% to the price over three years ago, without offering anything more by way of services for the hike. That rise made clear that the charge was a tax (if ever there had been any doubt). I was a Member of the London Assembly at the time and quoted international tax law, before the tax rise was introduced, to advise the Mayor against raising the price. I made clear that there would be a rush of all the major embassies and high commissions to stop paying, on the basis that some nations' citizens would have legal redress if their countries paid a tax out of their funds for which there was specifically no liability. I was present at a meeting where major embassies made clear that this was the case and, for the record, it was EU embassies which came out as far stronger new opponents of the charge on grounds of international tax laws than the US. Whatever your feelings about the C Charge, you cannot re-write international law on the hoof for it, not simply throw it one side because it doesn't suit. When is a tax not a tax? When you support it, or it doesn't affect you, I guess.
- Damian Hockney, London, UK
Oh not another faux pas, Boris! In order to deflect attention from your failure to promote London as per the letter you received from 17 top businessmen, including Mr Fayed and Sir Stuart Rose, and your over-eagerness to spin your homes for low income (£72K) would be house purchasers before having the necessary finance approvals, you are now into America bashing. What an embarrassment you are turning out to be. Again, Boris, if the ES will print it this time, ensure brain is engaged before operating mouth!
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain
The Americans have long argued that the congestion charge is a tax and therefor they are liable.
- James, Braintree UK
The British Diplomats in the United States are exempt from sales tax and are not subject to VAT or Duty. However, American Diplomats are subject to both Duty and VAT on almost everything they purchase. The British Diplomats also fare better with exchange rates and cost of living in the United States versus that of the United Kingdom. This is definitely a tax issue and people need to think about reciprocity agreements.
- John Doe, New York, NY
Ask Gordon to collect it from Obama. He may as well be of some use on this trip
- John Smith, London , England
Shame on you Boris for giving credence to Ken's tax on visiting London.
I hope the Americans don't pay. If they charged me to visit the USA I wouldn't go there either.
- Lawrence, Spain
Why aren't the US vehicles impounded and sold to contribute towards the outstanding amount due? Ditto Russian and Japanese vehicles.
- Ben Adamson, New York, NY
Sorry BoJo I disagree mate. Ken was wrong to introduce the CC, wrong to try to force diplomats to pay taxes and sorry mate but TfL is wrong now.
- Ethan, UK
So are we so desperate that we have our Primeminister going cap in hand to obhama to bail us out, and our charming Major doing the same for payments of an unfair tax? This country is clearly going to the dogs!
- Raminder Bhalla, Northolt
How is it a "service charge"? What's the service? Being allowed to use the roads in London? It's obviously a tax.
- Bob, Cheam
Let them eat bicycles! Johnson should impose a special tax on entry into the American Embassy from the pavement outside.
- Dhanraj, basildon
Its a tax and as such embassies are not required to pay local taxes. This TAX was never about congestion but all about an odious, horrible, car hating man hurting the car owner / driver and control. Boris, phase the traffic lights properly and put cameras on traffic lights and junctions rather than speed cameras and you will reduce congestion at a stroke.
- Duncan Walker, Lucky to live in Thailand
Why not clamp their cars? That'll do wonders for the "special relationship" that Brown is so keen to propagate.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
I must agree it is "nit pickling", to have the Embassies pay.
The congestion charge has not lessened congestion either!
- Lyn, London UK
The C-Charge is voluntary - don't drive a car in central London, don't pay.
- Jim, London
Do British diplomats pay road, bridge and tunnel tolls in the US? There is no difference.
- Rick, London, UK
The U.S. Embassy in London conscientiously abides by all UK laws, including paying fines for all traffic violations, such as parking and speeding violations. Our position on the direct tax established by Transport for London in 2003, more commonly known as the congestion charge, is based on the 1960 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which prohibits the direct taxation of diplomatic missions. Our position is wholly in accordance with that agreement to which the United States and the United Kingdom are both signatories, and it is a position shared by many other diplomatic missions in London.
- Us Embassy Spokesman, UK London
I don't think Boris wants to get into this. UK Diplomats at the United Nations in New York are exempted from all fees. If we want to go "Tit for Tat" the UK would get a bill for much more than the USA owes the UK. Stop being such a "Nit Picker" Boris. Congestion fee is just another tax scam on the people of London in the first place. There has never been a tax or fee that a politician doesn't love.
- Ruckus, Myrtle Beach USA
