The Hungarian Embassy in London owes HUF 625 million in congestion fees

Transport for London (TfL), the local government organization responsible for transport in the British capital, is trying to collect millions of pounds in unpaid congestion charges from London embassies. In their press release The list of shame was also publishedUnder which the United States owes the most money, but the Hungarian embassy also appears in the middle of the list.

a hvg.hu According to news seen by TfL

Between 2003 and 2023, the Hungarian Embassy in London accumulated debts of £1,374,870, or more than 625 million Hungarian forints, because since the introduction of the congestion charge in 2003, it has not paid a penny for using the toll road network.

According to the organization's logic, the traffic congestion fee is not a tax, but rather a fee paid for a service, and therefore diplomats are not exempt from it either.

As written, the majority of embassies normally pay tolls, but there is a “stubborn minority” who refuse to pay for use of the road. Accordingly, a debt of £143,527,113, i.e. more than 65 billion Hungarian forints, will be collected at various embassies, referring to congestion charges accumulated over nearly 20 years.

The newspaper asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade about the matter, but they have not received an answer to their inquiry yet.