Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson, has revealed that each and every Londoner is now owed £5 by embassies that evade paying the Congestion Charge. For the first time ever the total unpaid bill for non-payment of Congestion Charge and Penalty Charge Notices now exceeds £40 million.
Through repeated questioning, Caroline Pidgeon has obtained figures from the Mayor showing that the amount owed by embassies soared during 2009 by more than 40%, with the unpaid bill rising by £1 million every month. At the very start of the 2010 the total unpaid bill from embassies stood at £39 million, compared to an unpaid bill of £26 million at the same time last year.
Commenting on these new figures, Caroline Pidgeon said:
"It is shameful that a minority of embassies continue to evade paying the Congestion Charge. British diplomats respect the law of other countries and it is only right that diplomats do the same in this country.
"The Congestion Charge is exactly what it says on the tin. It is a charge for driving a vehicle at certain times of the day within highly congested parts of London. It is no more a tax than road tolls in France or tolls to cross bridges in the US.
"It is time that the US and other non paying embassies stopped insulting Londoners and started to pay the Congestion Charge."
Caroline Pidgeon also called on the Mayor to start taking a lead on this issue:
"Boris Johnson has done Londoners no favours with his flip-flopping on this issue. On one day he mistakenly calls the Congestion Charge a tax and then the next day he tries to persuade embassies that it is a charge. It is time he showed some consistent and strong leadership and ensured that Londoners were no longer denied many millions of much needed money."
Read Caroline's full report here
You can read other web coverage of Caroline's report at these sites:
- ITN (including London Tonight's report)
- BBC News
- Dave Hill's London blog at the Guardian
- Mayorwatch
- Londonist