The Ghana High Commission in London ranks among the top debtors under the British capital’s Congestion Charge regime.
According to documents, Ghana is 8th on the list of diplomatic debtors, with an accumulated debt of nearly five million pounds.
A January 2024 report by Ianvisits.com revealed that as of September 2023, overseas embassies in London owed £143 million in outstanding congestion charge payments.
This charge is enforced by Transport for London (TfL), an agency under the Mayor of London.
“The Congestion Charge is a £15 daily charge if you drive within the Congestion Charge zone 7:00-18:00 Monday-Friday and 12:00-18:00 Sat-Sun and bank holidays,” the Mayor’s website explained.
The Ianvisits.com report said of the debts: “Although the congestion charge is applied to road vehicles entering the congestion zone, many embassies argue that it’s not a charge but a tax, and embassies are exempt from paying domestic taxes under the terms of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
“Transport for London (TfL) disagrees and maintains a list of outstanding debts due on its website, that’s updated every six months.
“Part of the difficulty for TfL is that they can’t sue a diplomatic mission to recover the outstanding fees. Only the central government can trigger proceedings against international embassies, so TfL depends on the government to act on its behalf.
“According to a written statement from the Mayor of London, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials write to diplomatic missions and international organisations with large Congestion Charge debts annually to encourage payment,” it added.
TfL disputes this interpretation and maintains a publicly accessible list of outstanding debts, updated every six months.
Since the congestion charge was introduced in February 2003, embassies have largely ignored compliance requests, but TfL continues to update the debt list biannually.
