A $2m parking ticket? US Embassy v London congestion charge
Some of you may recall a couple of years ago when London instituted its congestion charge to help ease traffic and parking concerns in the city. Many people balked, but the £8 a day ($16) fee has indeed reduced congestion and raised revenue. Not everybody is pleased about paying the fee, but a few have made it a point to really raise non-payment to an art form. Case in point, America's Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Robert Holmes Tuttle. Tuttle and his embassy staff have amassed £1,000,000 ($2M) in fees and fines for going more than a year without paying the congestion charge.In the process they have accumulated 10,486 non-payment citations. While the US is by far the worst offender, several African nations have also thumbed their noses at the fees. London Mayor Ken Livingstone has threatened legal action to get the US to pay up. In their defense, the US Embassy says this is a tax, which they would be exempt from. Livingstone counters that it is in fact a fee:
"They are entitled to their opinion but it is for the British authorities to decide what is a tax and what is not a tax in the UK. Both the UK government and the Greater London Authority consider the congestion charge a charge for a service: reduced congestion. The issue here is clear: the US government rightly expects international diplomats living in Washington to respect US law; we are entitled to expect US diplomats living in London to respect British law. British diplomats in the US pay American tolls and charges."
Tuttle also happens to be one of the principals behind the Tuttle-Click string of auto dealers in Orange County, California. Stay tuned, this could get ugly.
[Source: Yorkshire Post Today via Hemmings]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Big Rocket 8:38PM (12/01/2006)
Have the authorities in Great Britain ever heard of diplomatic immunity?
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_immunity
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Proud Japanese 8:54PM (12/01/2006)
Big Rocket: From the wikipedia article you linked.
Diplomats are not necessarily exempt from paying government-imposed fees when they are "charges levied for specific services rendered." In certain cases, such as London's congestion charge, the nature of the fee may lead to disputes, but there is an obligation for the receiving state not to "discriminate as between states"; in other words, any such fees should be payable by all accredited diplomats equally. This may allow the diplomatic corps to negotiate as a group with the authorities of the receiving country.
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epp_b 9:04PM (12/01/2006)
Hold on a second, let me get this straight...the theory of so-called "congestion charges" is that you can tax people for using roads that were built using their taxes?
Seems that the Brits have mastered the art of "ripping you off".
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Greg 9:37PM (12/01/2006)
Rudy Guiliani wanted to tow and impound diplomats vehicles in New York City because of Unpaid parking tickets... or because they were parked in No Parking Zones.
Rudy Guiliani made this issue a major 'talking point', or 'wedge issue'.... imagine the Ambassadors from Ukraine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel...or any country.. not being allowed to have thier autocade waiting outside of any establishment they were frequenting in Manhattan because Rudy Guiliani wanted their cars Towed Away.
That is the type of Politician Rudy Guiliani is.
As Usual, it's always nice to see that the USA likes to 'Not Practice' what it 'Preaches'
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Barney 10:07PM (12/01/2006)
Diplomats are to be diplomatic. Tolls on bridges (which appears to have escaped #3. epp_b) or rent on buildings are not exempt, nor anything to do with diplomatic immunity. Americans must pay their share like everyone else. They are not the privileged class and they collect their dues in America as well.
If the system is working, then what's the problem. NYC is congested to the point that less and less people who live there have a car. They can't park the dam thing.
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kballs 9:40PM (12/01/2006)
It's not a law, it's an ordinance... IOW it's not a criminal offense to get a parking ticket or have to pay a congestion charge... ordinances are slimy, they're really just taxes with a facade of law.
As far as embassies paying the fees... (tongue in cheek) maybe they should carpool in Minis so if they get attacked they can all be in one car and be killed easier... or ride the tube so it's easier for nefarious people to follow them around... or maybe they should move outside the city limits to avoid contributing to congestion? I'm sure there are tons of foreigners needing embassy services out in the countryside. =P
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The Doctor 10:05PM (12/01/2006)
So Red Ken claims it's a "fee" for the reduced congestion it supposedly results in? In that case, why does the owner of a vehicle with an engine larger than a food processor have to pay £25? If the aim of the charge is to reduce congestion then cars should be taxed by their dimensions and not emissions. I would love to see some accounts to see how the increased revenue is being spent on environmental causes and not funding Livingstone's trips to Cuba, Venezuela and Venice.
Finally, if you're resident within the zone you have to pay the charge. A Residents Parking permit is a fee since you can choose not to use it whereas the congenstion charge is a tax since you have no choice.
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Michael Karesh 11:00PM (12/01/2006)
Diplomats are legendary for not paying this parking tickets and the like. Probably doesn't matter which country they're from.
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dave 9:33AM (12/02/2006)
forget the fine, make the violaters eat british food. guaranteed they will never break the law again.
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JS 11:18PM (12/01/2006)
Sounds like the Brits are up to their old tricks again.
Taxation without Representation!
Are we gonna have to kick their butts again to prove our point?
I kid :)
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Howard Kerr 11:21PM (12/01/2006)
I guess the only argument left for me is the "tax" versus "fee".
There are a lot of "fees" added to bills (look at any phone bill for a good example of this) and in the city/county I live in, "fees" are also added to utility bills. Let's face it, if any branch of a government wants to collect more revenue WITHOUT raising taxes...it institutes a "fee". Politicians like fees because it looks better on their resumes/records (I never voted to raise taxes). I have read/heard of London's Congestion...THINGEE(?) and if it really is based on emissions instead of space taken up by vehicles, then I say WTF?
I really liked the poster who reminded us that these roads were financed/built by citizen's taxes and the Congestion Fee constitutes a double tax.
As for where the money is going? Isn't it going to pay for police and cameras to enforce the reduced congestion? As I understand it, a lot of infrastructure had to be modified to make sure folks didn't try to sneak into the city without paying. As a side "benefit" it allows the police to track ALL vehicles inside the city limits. I saw on a recent airing of "Prime Suspect" that London police were able to track a car used by a suspected murderer from one end of town to the next. It makes the old Soviet Union method of crude roadblocks and entry and exit passes look Pre-historic.
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epp_b 12:09AM (12/02/2006)
["There are a lot of "fees" added to bills (look at any phone bill for a good example of this) and in the city/county I live in, "fees" are also added to utility bills. Let's face it, if any branch of a government wants to collect more revenue WITHOUT raising taxes...it institutes a "fee". Politicians like fees because it looks better on their resumes/records (I never voted to raise taxes). I have read/heard of London's Congestion...THINGEE(?)"]
You're exactly right. They can call it whatever they want, it's still a tax.
If you say that a dog's tail a leg, the dog still has four legs. A tail is still a tail, no matter what you call it.
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bathtub gin 12:49AM (12/02/2006)
4. Rudy Guiliani wanted to tow and impound diplomats vehicles in New York City because of Unpaid parking tickets... or because they were parked in No Parking Zones... As Usual, it's always nice to see that the USA likes to 'Not Practice' what it 'Preaches'
Hey, Greg, get a clue. Those parking tickets aren't taxes, either. Rudy Giuliani might have wanted those cars towed because they presented some sort of problem besides that of just backing up a street - like preventing a fire truuck or an ambulance to get thru. As for why he wanted to tow the diplomat's cars (BTW - I wonder if any diplomats ever actually drove a Dodge Diplomat), well, your post had one correct item in it. Giuliani is a politician, and he wanted to get reelected. I've never set foot in New York, but I can't imagine this not being a hot-button issue for a lot of New Yorkers.
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Big Rocket 1:11AM (12/02/2006)
#2 (Proud Japanese) - *Ideally*, diplomats are supposed to observe the host country's laws, pay fees for services rendered, etc. But the real world isn't so nice and neat. Diplomats sidestep prosecution on a regular basis, from drunk driving, to spying, to outright assassinations.
And if diplomatic immunity allows diplomats to get away with murder, what can disgruntled transportation officials possibly do to them? Invade the embassies to tow their cars parked inside?
Sources:
http://www.madd.ca/english/news/stories/n05feb21.htm
http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Egypt/Missile/2362_2921.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4196/is_19980517/ai_n10422312
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Phil 5:09AM (12/02/2006)
Typical of people working for the US Government, They think the rules should apply to everyone but themselves.
Maybe they should move their offices out of the congested area, there are area's in London without fee's.
They should pay up instead of acting like they are above the law.
The Arrogance !!!
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Tim 7:49AM (12/02/2006)
As a Brit, I'm against the congestion charge, and can perfectly understand the ambassador's point of view.
The charge is incredibly flawed; in fact, congestion levels within the zone have gone up to pretty much the same level that they were before it was implemented - the charge isn't working. And now the mayor is expanding the zone further west simply as a means of raising more money. As others have said, it's just another tax on the motorist.
I hope the US ambassador fights this and wins!
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Arnie 8:19AM (12/02/2006)
#16. Agree. He should tell that Stalinist vermin Livingstone to come and get it. It doesn't matter if the system doesn't work. It's just a hidden way of redistributing income. Those bastards who ripped us poor people off by buyng nice cars. Let's take some money from them.
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C\\\'est Raoul 10:29AM (12/02/2006)
So moronic...
I guess they do not need to pay for highway tolls either.
Funny to see the US going again against environment...
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NAAT 6:06PM (12/08/2006)
The London "congestion" charge is definitely a "con". Most of the charge of eight pounds (nearly 16 US dollars) a day is wasted in the cost of collection and enforcement.
The propaganda about how it has reduced congestion is worthy of Goebbels. When the latest congestion figures were released, one of the London politicians pointed out that "Londoners were now having to pay for congestion that they once got for free".
New York and other areas that are considering a congestion charge, should avoid it like the plague.
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Jimmy 2:20PM (12/02/2006)
Parts of the UK government are strongly against private transportation. They want everyone to be equally uncomfortable on some form of public transport.
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