§ Mr. Peter AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish figures recording the number of unpaid parking fines incurred by diplomatic missions in London during 1993.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe information requested by my hon. Friend is given in the table. The table also includes those international organisations which incurred unpaid fines. The figures may be reduced by late payments.
The total of 1,941 represents a 53.4 per cent. reduction from the 1992 published figure of 4,166 which has now been further reduced to 2,328 by late payments. This compares favourably with the same period in 1985 when almost 60,000 fines were recorded, and continues the downward trend in parking offences. We welcome this further reduction in unpaid parking fines and appreciate the co-operation of diplomatic missions and international organisations since the introduction of the parking policy. We shall continue carefully to monitor the level of unpaid fines, and take appropriate measures to ensure that fines are paid. 269W
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Unpaid Parking Fines Diplomatic Mission 1993 1992 Nigeria 91 167 India 71 66 Saudi Arabia 60 127 Bangladesh 59 41 Pakistan 54 57 German Federal Republic 51 60 U.A.E. 51 128 Jordan 50 38 Hungary 50 60 Spain 48 60 Greece 46 153 Zambia 45 117 Oman 45 59 Tanzania 40 23 Sudan 39 70 Egypt 35 68 Cameroon 35 70 Ghana 35 48 Bulgaria 34 33 Thailand 32 80 Gambia 30 63 Angola 30 35 Bahrain 29 18 Qatar 28 52 Tunisia 28 81 Poland 27 69 Israel 27 86 Romania 25 62 Uganda 25 7 France 25 182 Gabon 23 32 Uruguay 23 61 Brunei 22 24 Cyprus 21 62 Cote D'Ivoire 21 106 Kuwait 21 85 Italy 21 25 Russia 20 226 Cuba 20 11 Barbados 19 29 Malawi 18 18 Philippines 17 10 Algeria 17 34 Malaysia 15 27 Zimbabwe 15 38 China 14 159 Turkey 13 245 Portugal 12 42 Brazil 12 25 Afghanistan 11 2 Lesotho 11 10 Peru 11 7 East Caribbean 10 5 Mexico 10 19 Syria 9 22 Indonesia 9 5 Sierra Leone 8 6 Burma 8 7 Zaire 8 20 Mauritius 8 38 Liberia 8 4 Iran 7 12 Kenya 7 12 Libya 6 44 Chile 6 5 Czechoslovakia 6 4 Trinidad 6 2 Switzerland 6 2 Botswana 6 1 Yemen 5 12 Bahamas 5 1 Japan 5 14 Costa Rica 5 1 Fiji 5 9 Belgium 5 4 Jamaica 5 11
Diplomatic Mission 1993 1992 Swaziland 5 0 Iceland 3 1 Korea 3 85 Lebanon 3 14 Tonga 3 0 Guatemala 3 7 Canada 3 10 United States 3 26 Finland 2 16 Senegal 2 19 Ireland 2 13 Nepal 2 11 Colombia 2 2 Panama 2 3 Paraguay 2 10 Namibia 2 0 Lithuania 2 2 Austria 2 5 Ethiopia 2 14 Australia 2 5 Mongolia 2 4 Antigua 2 0 South Africa 2 5 Yugoslavia 2 12 Malta 1 5 Benin 1 0 Bolivia 1 0 Nicaragua 1 2 Seychelles 1 3 Ukraine 1 0 Armenia 1 2 Sweden 1 4 Guyana 1 7 Venezuela 1 16 Vietnam 1 2 Estonia 1 0 Slovakia 1 0 Netherlands 1 2 Latvia 0 0 Iraq 0 11 Honduras 0 5 Mozambique 0 3 Grenada 0 0 El Salvador 0 1 Ecuador 0 0 New Zealand 0 1 Dominica 0 0 Luxembourg 0 3 Norway 0 2 Singapore 0 1 Denmark 0 2 Slovenia 0 0 Somalia — — Croatia 0 0 Belize 0 0 Sri Lanka 0 3 Papua New Guinea 0 1 Argentina 0 0 International Organisations Comm Sec 17 28 Cocoa 12 0 EBRD 11 8 African Dev Ban 9 5 Coffee 2 2 E C 1 1 W E U 1 1 I M O 0 1 United Nations 0 0 INMARSAT 0 7 Sugar 0 0 1,941 4,166
§ Mr. Peter AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many serious 271W offences were allegedly committed in 1993 by persons entitled to diplomatic immunity; and how many foreign diplomats were withdrawn from their posts in Britain in the past year as a result of alleged offences.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydTwenty-nine alleged serious offences by persons entitled to diplomatic immunity were drawn to the attention of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993. "Serious offences" are defined in
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 Traffic offences1 (a) Drink/Driving 23 24 25 28 27 24 24 15 13 (b) Minor offences 87 71 86 103 75 53 45 30 31 Totals 110 95 111 131 102 77 69 45 44 Serious offences 1. Drink/Driving as (a) above 23 24 25 28 27 24 24 15 13 2. Theft/shoplifting 20 12 11 10 10 8 9 9 9 3. Others 9 5 4 6 3 1 7 9 7 Totals 52 41 40 44 40 33 40 33 29 Other minor offences 16 6 12 8 16 7 11 2 4 Parking2 Unpaid fines 59,625 22,337 14,437 10,079 7,831 6,551 5,145 4,166 1,941 Withdrawals Diplomats withdrawn at FCO request 18 17 18 14 14 6 7 8 1 plus (1 pending) 1 NB Technically all traffic offences are "criminal" offences 2 Pre-1985 White Paper: 1984 unpaid parking fines totalled 108,932