The Icelandic Embassy in London owes the City of London £1,320 (about 242,000 ISK) in congestion charge fees due to the fact that the embassy’s cars have entered the charging zone in Central London without paying the required £10 fee.

The Danish state broadcaster DR reported this story first, and it comes to your fine eyes via Morgunblaðið. The reason the story has been reported in Denmark is down to the fact that its own embassy is indebted to the city of London the tune of £264,560 (equivalent to 48.5 million ISK), for the very same reason.

London adopted a congestion charging scheme in 2003 in an attempt to reduce traffic levels and air pollution in the city centre. According to DR, the reason that the debts have racked up to such a figure is due to late payment fines which have accumulated over time.

DR reports that the British authorities say that the charge is not a tax but a fee which everyone must pay, including foreign ambassadors. Around two thirds of the embassies in London pay the charge regularly but the other third avoid insist on not paying.

The US Embassy has the largest debt to the City, which currently stands at £5,760,900 (just over one billion ISK). The US Embassy says it consider the charge a British tax which American ambassadors are exempt from paying — needless to say the British authorities are not exactly in agreement with this interoperation of the charge.

Other embassies that have gone into the red in London include the Finnish, German and Japanese representations, who owe £124,160, £3.6 million, £4.6 million respectively. Amongst the embassies who are willing to pay the charge are those of Norway and Sweden, who owe nothing in congestion charge fees to the City.

Labels: Foreign affairs, UK