United States President Barack Obama has been fined £120 for not paying the congestion charge during his state visit to the United Kingdom in May. According to The Sun, Obama was hit with the penalty for his motorcade in London.
London Mayor Boris Johnson had wanted the 10-pound congestion fee to be paid for the President’s armour-plated limousine and all other cars during his visit.
Johnson is understood to have raised the issue with Obama at a Buckingham Palace banquet during his visit. The supposed transgression is challenged by the US, which sees the charge as a tax from which diplomatic vehicles are exempt under the 1960 Vienna Convention.
Transport For London, meanwhile, has a policy of charging on any and all vehicles with foreign plates, even diplomatic ones.