London duns embassy for £1 million in congestion fees

LONDON (Kyodo) The Japanese Embassy in London has racked up more than £1 million worth of unpaid traffic charges and penalty fines in a diplomatic dispute with city chiefs.

Transport for London, the body that controls the British capital's public transportation network, revealed recently that the embassy owes it a total of £1,003,300 (¥207 million). This is up from last March, when the debt stood at £312,000.

The embassy is refusing to pay a daily congestion charge for driving in central London, arguing that it is in fact a tax that diplomats are exempt from paying under the 1961 Vienna Convention, which governs diplomatic relations.

It costs drivers £8 each to drive in the zone, which covers London's central entertainment and business district, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday to Friday. If drivers do not pay the charge by midnight, they start incurring fines. Failure to pay within 28 days can result in a fine of £150.

Several other missions have also stopped paying.

The biggest debtor is the United States, which owes over £2 million. Japan is currently in second place. More than £10 million is owed by 20 embassies, according to Transport for London.

The U.S. and German embassies stopped paying the charge in July 2005 and there are thought to be around 50 missions not paying now.

While opposing their actions, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone knows there is nothing he can do by law to prevent the diplomats' refusal to cough up.

The Japanese Embassy disputes TfL's assertion that the congestion charge is, in fact, a charge for which a specific service is being provided — namely the reduction of traffic congestion — and therefore payable by diplomats under the Vienna Convention.

The British government also supports TfL's case and says British diplomats pay congestion charges in other countries.

A spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in London said Tokyo had assessed the relevant laws in August 2006 and concluded its diplomatic staff should not pay. Locally hired embassy employees still pay the charge, however.

Last March, the mayor caused controversy by using Japan's war role to attack the embassy for nonpayment.

He told a radio station: "I think there are several problems with Japan that we could go on about here. Admitting their guilt for all the war crimes would be one thing. So if they've not got round to doing that, I doubt they're too worried about the congestion charge."