Boing Boing: London's mayor calls deadbeat US Ambassador "venal little crook"

View a recent day: August 20 | August 19 | August 18 | previous days | by month and year

Monday, June 25, 2007

London's mayor calls deadbeat US Ambassador "venal little crook"

In NYC, a country's national corruption index is a good predictor of the likelihood that its UN diplomats will rack up unpaid parking fines.

In London, the top offender for traffic fines is the US Embassy, which refuses to pay the "congestion charge" for driving in central London. The US Embassy owes the city of London £1,484,765 in unpaid fines. This state of affairs has prompted London's mayor, "Red" Ken Livingston, to call US ambassador Robert Tuttle a "venal little crook."

"The majority of missions pay the congestion charge on time and do not incur fines. We also wrote to all missions owing over £1,000 in fines urging them to settle their debts with Transport for London."
The US embassy - along with many others - has refused to pay the congestion fee on the grounds that it is tax; and therefore diplomats are exempt from paying it.
It has led to stinging criticism from London mayor Ken Livingstone, who branded US ambassador Robert Tuttle a "venal little crook" for his refusal to pay.

Link (via Freakonomics)

posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:25:37 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

View a recent day: August 20, 2007 | August 19, 2007 | August 18, 2007 | August 17, 2007 | August 16, 2007 | August 15, 2007 | August 14, 2007 | previous days | all BB archives by month and year

suggest a link \| defeat censorware \| rss \| archives \| t-shirts \| digital emporium \| podcast feed \| mark \| cory \| david \| xeni \| john
Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	View a recent day: August 20 \| August 19 \| August 18 \| previous days \| by month and year Monday, June 25, 2007 London's mayor calls deadbeat US Ambassador "venal little crook" In NYC, a country's national corruption index is a good predictor of the likelihood that its UN diplomats will rack up unpaid parking fines. In London, the top offender for traffic fines is the US Embassy, which refuses to pay the "congestion charge" for driving in central London. The US Embassy owes the city of London £1,484,765 in unpaid fines. This state of affairs has prompted London's mayor, "Red" Ken Livingston, to call US ambassador Robert Tuttle a "venal little crook." "The majority of missions pay the congestion charge on time and do not incur fines. We also wrote to all missions owing over £1,000 in fines urging them to settle their debts with Transport for London." The US embassy - along with many others - has refused to pay the congestion fee on the grounds that it is tax; and therefore diplomats are exempt from paying it. It has led to stinging criticism from London mayor Ken Livingstone, who branded US ambassador Robert Tuttle a "venal little crook" for his refusal to pay. Link (via Freakonomics) posted by Cory Doctorow at 08:25:37 AM permalink \| Other blogs' comments View a recent day: August 20, 2007 \| August 19, 2007 \| August 18, 2007 \| August 17, 2007 \| August 16, 2007 \| August 15, 2007 \| August 14, 2007 \| previous days \| all BB archives by month and year Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: