Cyprus High Commission owes €1.7m in London congestion charges
The Cypriot High Commission in London owes the city’s transport authority Transport for London (TfL) almost €1.7 million in outstanding congestion charge fees, TfL said.
The figure was released by TfL alongside amounts owed by all offending embassies and high commissions in the United Kingdom’s capital, with Cyprus’ exact debt standing at £1,435,080 (€1,677,164).
That number put Cyprus in 26th place on the list, one place behind the Turkish embassy, which owes a little over £1.5m (€1.8m), and two places behind the Greek embassy, which owes just shy of £1.7m (€1.9m).
Top of the list was the American embassy, which owes a whopping £14.6m (€17.1m), while the Japanese embassy was placed in second, owing £10m (€11.8m).
The Chinese and Russian embassies placed in fifth and sixth, owing £7.9m (€9.3m) and £6m (€7m) respectively.
The embassy with the smallest debt was that of Togo, which TfL said owes £40 (€47). The total debt of all the indebted embassies reaches over £143.5m (€167.7m).
London’s congestion charge was introduced in 2003, with vehicles entering the British capital city’s centre between 7am and 6pm on weekdays and 12pm and 6pm on weekends charged a fee to do so. The current fee is £15 (€18).
Cyprus’ High Commission is among a number of embassies in the city which consider the congestion charge to be a form of taxation, from which they would thus be exempted from under the Vienna Convention.
However, TfL and the British government both consider the charge to be a service charge rather than a tax, and that therefore, diplomats are not immune. As such TfL has considered the non-payment of the congestion charge as unpaid debt for over 20 years.
The issue was raised in 2011 by then-London mayor Boris Johnson, after then-US President Barack Obama was issued a £120 fine for driving through London in a Presidential state car.
“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,” TfL said.
“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,” they added.
The Cypriot foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.