You have to love diplomacy sometimes. Britain may not be able to force foreign embassies to pay their parking fines, but there’s nothing to stop us naming and shaming them.
One has to wonder how on earth the United Arab Emirates has managed to clock up 441 fines in a single calendar year, to a tune of £42,950. How many cars do you need to achieve that?
Maybe the solution is to pedestrianise the areas around the worst-offending embassies. I’m sure Ken would love to do that to the Americans, who now owe us £1m for not paying the congestion charge
redtamarin[at]gmail.com
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Personally I’d like to pedestrianise Ken myself.
matt said this on November 29th, 2006 at 2:40 pm
They don’t owe us anything.
Congestion Charge is a tax from which they are exempt. Some embassies pay it as a goodwill gesture, but they don’t have to.
Andrew Young said this on November 29th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
“441 fines in a single calendar year … How many cars do you need to achieve that?”
One?
Anon said this on November 29th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
Just the one car should do it, so long as it’s badly enough parked. And twice on some days. I wonder though if there’s just a hint of racism in wondering how many cards an Arab embassy needs…. Or not?
spiker said this on November 29th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
If it was one car it would have to get a fine of £100 more than once a day - which I think defies belief. Much more likely is a convoy of two or three cars all getting fined for stopping at the same place. And surely at least one of those 441 incidents must have resulted in the car being clamped or towed away? You’d need more than one.
Nothing to do with the fact that it’s an Arab embassy (though they might have a cheap petrol deal) - UAE happened to be top of the list.
Red Tamarin said this on November 30th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Erm Andrew, the High Court has ruled that it isn’t a tax and that they aren’t exempt. Congestion charges in other cities around the world get paid by the US! Just not London!
Dr Strangelove said this on November 30th, 2006 at 4:17 pm