--- title: Diplomats' Unpaid Parking Tickets Total $16 Million description: Diplomats gathered for this week's General Assembly can agree that rules of the road don't apply to them canonical: https://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parking-tickets-new-york/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-23T13:30:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:21:13.896Z article:section: Politics og:title: Diplomats' Unpaid Parking Tickets Total $16 Million og:description: Diplomats gathered for this week's General Assembly can agree that rules of the road don't apply to them og:url: https://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parking-tickets-new-york/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1fdabc58427f7cd/6986a4c33617606e2090e011/71920623.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4368 og:image:height: 2457 og:image:alt: United Nations Prepares For 62nd UN General Assembly og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Diplomats' Unpaid Parking Tickets Total $16 Million twitter:description: Diplomats gathered for this week's General Assembly can agree that rules of the road don't apply to them twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1fdabc58427f7cd/6986a4c33617606e2090e011/71920623.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Deadbeat Diplomats Owe NYC $16 Million in Unpaid Parking Fines > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 23, 2014 1:30 PM UTC  Barricades and "No Parking" signs can be seen all around the United Nations on September 18, 2006 in New York City. Barricades and "No Parking" signs can be seen all around the United Nations on September 18, 2006 in New York City.Michael Nagle—Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 23, 2014 1:30 PM UTC Diplomatic staff based in New York City have racked up $16 million in unpaid parking tickets, according to municipal data [obtained](http://online.wsj.com/articles/diplomats-dodge-old-debt-1411438396) by the Wall Street _Journal._ Officials from 180 countries, or all but 15 countries on the planet, have accrued debt related to parking violations. Egypt leads the pack with a whopping $1.9 million tab and 17,499 summonses. Diplomats from Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil have dues ranging from $600 to nearly $900,000\. Much of the debt dates back to the early 2000s, before mayor Michael Bloomberg cracked down on parking violations and unpaid fines. The Wall Street _Journal_ [includes](http://online.wsj.com/articles/diplomats-dodge-old-debt-1411438396) a graphic breakdown of the 10 biggest violators as well as a range of evasive responses from the artful to the confused to the undiplomatic, proving that if there’s one thing that the world’s diplomats can agree upon at this week’s United Nations[ general assembly](http://time.com/3421316/united-nations-general-assembly/), it’s that the rules of the road don’t apply to them. \[[_WSJ_](http://online.wsj.com/articles/diplomats-dodge-old-debt-1411438396)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parking-tickets-new-york/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parking-tickets-new-york/"},"headline":"Deadbeat Diplomats Owe NYC $16 Million in Unpaid Parking Fines","datePublished":"2014-09-23T13:30:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:21:13.896Z","description":"The price of diplomatic immunity","url":"https://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parking-tickets-new-york/","keywords":["United Nations","Foreign Policy","New York City"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1fdabc58427f7cd/6986a4c33617606e2090e011/71920623.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta1fdabc58427f7cd/6986a4c33617606e2090e011/71920623.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"United Nations Prepares For 62nd UN General Assembly","caption":"United Nations Prepares For 62nd UN General Assembly","creditText":"Michael Nagle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/united-nations/","name":"United Nations"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3421587/diplomats-parking-tickets-new-york/","name":"Deadbeat Diplomats Owe NYC $16 Million in Unpaid Parking Fines"}}]}] ```