Request ID: FOI-0532-2122 Date published: 05 July 2021
You asked
Could you please give me a list of all outstanding unpaid parking fines and Congestion Charge debt incurred by diplomatic missions and international organisations in London as of 14 June 2021.
Could you please provide it to me in a list of all those diplomatic missions and international organisations with outstanding fines of £100,000 or more?
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0532-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 14 June 2021, asking for information about unpaid penalty charge notices.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm TfL does hold the information you require.
We and the UK Government are clear that the Congestion Charge is a charge for a service and not a tax. 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.
We publish details of the outstanding Congestion Charge penalty amounts on our website and the information is available at https://content.tfl.gov.uk/cclez-online-factsheet-embassy-debt-dec20.pdf. The current data is available up to 31 December 2020 however this will be updated in due course.
In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of the requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.
As of 17 June 2021, there are a total of 1,626 Red Route penalties outstanding, with a value of £212,774, which have been issued to foreign embassies. No single embassy has an outstanding penalties in excess of £100,000. These are penalties issued on the Transport for London Road Network and include penalties for parking, banned manoeuvres, yellow box junctions and stopping restrictions.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
