diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/date/DateServiceTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/date/DateServiceTest.java
index 8ad70ab51d..439c1b4203 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/date/DateServiceTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/jclouds/date/DateServiceTest.java
@@ -180,7 +180,12 @@ public class DateServiceTest extends PerformanceTest {
       Date date = dateService.fromSeconds(seconds);
       assertEquals(dateService.iso8601SecondsDateFormat(date), "2009-09-26T23:37:05Z");
    }
-
+   
+   @Test
+   void testUTCIsGMT() {
+      assertEquals(dateService.iso8601SecondsDateParse("2012-11-26T17:32:31UTC+0000").getTime(), dateService.iso8601SecondsDateParse("2012-11-26T17:32:31UTC+0000").getTime());
+   }
+   
    @Test
    void testTz() {
       assertEquals(dateService.iso8601SecondsDateParse("2011-05-26T02:14:13-04:00").getTime(), 1306390453000l);
diff --git a/drivers/joda/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/joda/JodaDateService.java b/drivers/joda/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/joda/JodaDateService.java
index ff8b145f24..7927bb5985 100644
--- a/drivers/joda/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/joda/JodaDateService.java
+++ b/drivers/joda/src/main/java/org/jclouds/date/joda/JodaDateService.java
@@ -113,22 +113,24 @@ public class JodaDateService implements DateService {
    public final Date iso8601DateParse(String toParse) {
       if (toParse.length() < 10)
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("incorrect date format " + toParse);
-      String tz = findTZ(toParse);
-      toParse = trimToMillis(toParse);
-      toParse = trimTZ(toParse);
-      toParse += tz;
+      toParse = adjustTz(toParse);
       if (toParse.charAt(10) == ' ')
          toParse = new StringBuilder(toParse).replace(10, 11, "T").toString();
       return iso8601DateFormatter.parseDateTime(toParse).toDate();
    }
 
-   public final Date iso8601SecondsDateParse(String toParse) {
-      if (toParse.length() < 10)
-         throw new IllegalArgumentException("incorrect date format " + toParse);
+   private String adjustTz(String toParse) {
       String tz = findTZ(toParse);
       toParse = trimToMillis(toParse);
       toParse = trimTZ(toParse);
       toParse += tz;
+      return toParse.replace("UTC", "");
+   }
+
+   public final Date iso8601SecondsDateParse(String toParse) {
+      if (toParse.length() < 10)
+         throw new IllegalArgumentException("incorrect date format " + toParse);
+      toParse = adjustTz(toParse);
       return iso8601SecondsDateFormatter.parseDateTime(toParse).toDate();
    }