subject: Highway Robery [print this page] Highway Robery Highway Robery
Keen as I am to regularly expound the virtues of life here in Mediterranean Spain, I feel an urgent sense of duty to warn foreign motorists travelling through France and Spain especially those using the A7/E15 motorway (Autovia). We have heard several reports of immigrant gangs targeting hire cars and non-French/Spanish registered cars. This situation began in the Catalunya region, but has recently spread to a degree along the other Costas.
The idea is that they will cause your car a slow(ish) puncture, either whilst the car is awaiting the collection of the hire customer, or at a motorway services site, either at the petrol forecourt, or the carpark by the diners. They will then follow the target vehicle until the tyre is deflated and the driver stops. At this point they will stop and offer a modicum of assistance or advice (usually they will stop short of changing the wheel for you!) Whilst your car and luggage is unloaded and generally disorganised, and the occupants distracted, they will steal your hand luggage, handbag, purse etc., and make off with cash, credit cards, passports and other important personal items like house keys etc. etc.
Here follows my rather hurried advice:
a) Be particularly wary travelling through or in France and/or Spain, especially if in a foreign registered car or a hire car.
b) If you choose to use the motorway system, either:
i) Leave it to refuel your car, or your stomachs.
ii) Ensure your passengers keep a keen watch on any one approaching yourcar whilst you are paying for your fuel etc.
iii) Do not leave your car unattended while you all visit the toilets at once.
iv) If you must dine or take a coffee break at the motorway services, only do so if you can clearly park your car adjacent to a window you can sit by, to monitor your vehicle continuously.
c) If you collect a hire car from an airport, before loading your luggage, check that you have fully inflated tyres and spare wheel, and also a jack & wheel brace in place.
d) Do not leave your car unattended at any time whilst on the motorway system.
e) Divide and separate cash, valuables & credit cards, between occupants and in different areas of the car Do not take abroad with you unnecessary amounts of cash and valuable jewellery etc.
f) not in the boot or on the back seat, in a single holdall! This is not paranoia, just a common sense precaution.
g) Keep a separate note of the telephone numbers you might need to cancel your credit cards, in the event of any theft.
h) Likewise, be wary of pickpockets. Don't keep a bulging wallet in an unfastened back pocket of jeans, don't carry more cash than required at any one time, don't carry all your credit cards together, and ladies please don't hang your handbag over your seat-back in bars and restaurants etc.
i) Should you fall prey to any crime of this sort, it is important that you report this to a local police station. Not only will this help you reclaim losses from your insurance, it will also help them with their determined effort to stamp-out this activity. You will most likely need the services of an interpreter at the police station which they may be able to help you with. Meanwhile, as soon as time permits, we shall be preparing an additional Info Sheet on our website at www.costablancaselect.com which shall include contact numbers for anyone needing an interpreter for this purpose, locally.
Finally, please keep a sense of proportion here. The Spanish themselves are overwhelmingly honest and law-abiding, the perpetrators of these opportunistic crimes always seem to be immigrants of some kind and, considering the millions of travellers on the French and Spanish motorway systems, the occurrence of these incidents are comparatively tiny. The Spanish police are aware of this situation and are throwing their collective might behind efforts to eliminate this and wipe out the perpetrators with checkpoints and even Stinger' assisted road blocks, when necessary. Unlike the UK, those convicted will serve a custodial sentence and, almost certainly, be deported at the end of it!
So, do continue to enjoy all the delights that Spain and the Mediterranean have to offer. Bring your brain on holiday with you, take a few sensible precautions, and relax and enjoy your visit!
I hope you find the above informative. Should you require any further guidance or assistance, please contact me at: SELECT Villas of Moraira, Tel. 96 6490 861, email info@select-villas.es or visit our website www.selectvillasofmoraira.co.uk .
