mike 202 Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Hi, I was given the advice to be very carefull and not stop for anyone. However if unavoidable and if requested to stop by anyone, especially people who appeared to be Spanish police. I was given the following when at a campsite in Spain, Exactly as written in capital on here but large scale on a sheet of A4 paper. I was told keep doors locked, show the paper through the window and either ring or pretend to ring on my mobile. hope it is of some use to my fellow travellers. DEBIDO A LA DENUNCIA DE FALSOS POLICIES, PARA PROCEDER AL REGISTRO DEL VEHICULO, REGUER LA PRESENCIA DE UN VEHICULO DE POLICIA OFFICIAL Y UN AGENTRE UNIFORMADO Y IDENTIFICADO DUE TO REPORTS OF FALSE POLICE, TO BE ABLE TO SEARCH OUR VEHICLE WE REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF AN OFFICIAL POLICE CAR AND UNIFORMED POLICE WITH THEIR IDENTIFICATION Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALAN G Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Many thanks for that. I hope I don't have to use it. Does anyone have versions for the other countries we hope to visit this year? That is Portugal, France, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Anne Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Thanks Mike, We have made a copy and laminated it ready to keep in the MH just in case we ever need it. Much obliged for the information. Regards, John & Anne :-) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbarian Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Thank you Mike, I have also copied it, very useful to have but hopefully not to use. Very grateful for the info. sharing. Regards, barbarian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernon B Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Very useful Mike many thanks. Off to Spain shortly - do you happen to have one for all the 100+ languages necessary to get us through London en route to Dover? V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 Nice one Vernon - maybee the Foreign Office could supply us with a list, only problem it would probably be out of date with their efficiency and monitoring. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John J Thompson Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 mike 202 - 2011-02-26 1:21 PM Hi, I was given the advice to be very carefull and not stop for anyone. However if unavoidable and if requested to stop by anyone, especially people who appeared to be Spanish police. I was given the following when at a campsite in Spain, Exactly as written in capital on here but large scale on a sheet of A4 paper. I was told keep doors locked, show the paper through the window and either ring or pretend to ring on my mobile. hope it is of some use to my fellow travellers. DEBIDO A LA DENUNCIA DE FALSOS POLICIES, PARA PROCEDER AL REGISTRO DEL VEHICULO, REGUER LA PRESENCIA DE UN VEHICULO DE POLICIA OFFICIAL Y UN AGENTRE UNIFORMADO Y IDENTIFICADO DUE TO REPORTS OF FALSE POLICE, TO BE ABLE TO SEARCH OUR VEHICLE WE REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF AN OFFICIAL POLICE CAR AND UNIFORMED POLICE WITH THEIR IDENTIFICATION Mike There were also reports of crooks driving around in vehicles with police markings and in fake uniforms. The advice given in by the Police in one on the free Costa newspapers we saw two years ago was not to stop, but drive to the nearest petrol station and only stop when in the pumps not on the outside parking area. It said the Police would understand this action, if you acknowledge them. If you have any doubt phone 902 102112 and they would speak English and are able to confirm that the police vehicle was a genuine one. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Thanks john, Will add the phone number to my Motorhome folder. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Whilst the above wording would probably be fully understood in Spain, I think a better wording might be: Debido a los informes de la policia falso, ser capaz de buscar nuestro vehiculo debe presentar en un coche oficial de policia, con policia uniformada, y con su identificacion. No vamos a dejar sin estas cosas. (I've added " we will not stop without these things" as the last sentence.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Thanks for this, Mike, I'll certainly print it and carry it on my next trip to Spain as a precaution (with Bruce's extra line) - after all, it don't weigh anything! But I do wonder how widespread this problem is. For instance, has anyone on here experienced it THEMSELVES? As "second best" evidence, does anyone on here personally KNOW anyone who has experienced it? Once you get beyond that, it starts to be more dubious, although if an official Police website warns about it that gives it more cred. And at least this is something that clearly COULD happen, unlike the urban myth of knockout gas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Hola, hola, hola, lo que fue pasar aquí entonces! :D :D (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-02-28 4:44 PM Thanks for this, Mike, I'll certainly print it and carry it on my next trip to Spain as a precaution (with Bruce's extra line) - after all, it don't weigh anything! But I do wonder how widespread this problem is. For instance, has anyone on here experienced it THEMSELVES? As "second best" evidence, does anyone on here personally KNOW anyone who has experienced it? Once you get beyond that, it starts to be more dubious, although if an official Police website warns about it that gives it more cred. And at least this is something that clearly COULD happen, unlike the urban myth of knockout gas! I also wonder about this "Myth"............we've lived in Spain for 8 years now. In all that time I have never met anyone (Spanish or visitor) who has experienced this "False Police" scam. I have never met anyone here who knew anyone who experienced this. I have never read, in any British or Spanish paper, or on any TV news programme, any report of such an event. That is of course not to say that such a scam has never ever happened, but I do suspect that in reality we may be at higher risk of being struck by a falling pig than of being held up by a false traffic Police scam in Spain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-02-28 4:44 PM But I do wonder how widespread this problem is. For instance, has anyone on here experienced it THEMSELVES? As "second best" evidence, does anyone on here personally KNOW anyone who has experienced it? Once you get beyond that, it starts to be more dubious, although if an official Police website warns about it that gives it more cred. And at least this is something that clearly COULD happen, unlike the urban myth of knockout gas! I have experienced one episode but that was in France near Millau. Woken up in middle of night wildcamping. So called Police tried to get me to open the door. I refused. Their van's rear tailight was not working and had a damaged side. I asked for ID but that was not forthcoming. Threatened me with a batten. I threatened them with my wheelbrace. After a standoff it eventually became clear that the so called Police were in fact the genuine article warning me to remove my sat nav from the windscreen and the batten was merely intended to show me what criminals might do to get at my sat nav. The whoe episode was laughed off but it goes to show that sometimes you can be overly suspicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvin marvin Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 BGD - 2011-02-28 5:25 PM Tony Jones - 2011-02-28 4:44 PM Thanks for this, Mike, I'll certainly print it and carry it on my next trip to Spain as a precaution (with Bruce's extra line) - after all, it don't weigh anything! But I do wonder how widespread this problem is. For instance, has anyone on here experienced it THEMSELVES? As "second best" evidence, does anyone on here personally KNOW anyone who has experienced it? Once you get beyond that, it starts to be more dubious, although if an official Police website warns about it that gives it more cred. And at least this is something that clearly COULD happen, unlike the urban myth of knockout gas! I also wonder about this "Myth"............we've lived in Spain for 8 years now. In all that time I have never met anyone (Spanish or visitor) who has experienced this "False Police" scam. I have never met anyone here who knew anyone who experienced this. I have never read, in any British or Spanish paper, or on any TV news programme, any report of such an event. That is of course not to say that such a scam has never ever happened, but I do suspect that in reality we may be at higher risk of being struck by a falling pig than of being held up by a false traffic Police scam in Spain. I did wonder when I first saw this posting if it might be a bit of a Sting...geddit? We did once see a crap Stevie Wonder impersonator in Spain... no more jokes please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALAN G Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 John J Thompson advised us to ring 902 102112. Does this work from any Mobile? Or should we insert the country code? My mobile is set up for ROAMING on Orange and obviously it regards the UK as home. Don't really wish to experiment and annoy the police who may be helpful when required. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John J Thompson Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 ALAN G - 2011-02-28 5:53 PM John J Thompson advised us to ring 902 102112. Does this work from any Mobile? Or should we insert the country code? My mobile is set up for ROAMING on Orange and obviously it regards the UK as home. Don't really wish to experiment and annoy the police who may be helpful when required. (lol) It is a local Spanish number and connects to police. It is manned by English Speaking operators who will take a statement about the incident, translate it into Spanish and fax or email it to the nearest police station. It is also quoted in the Caravan Club publication Caravan Europe 1 (2008 copy) Page 762 under the heading Country Introduction, Safety Information. Being a local number you need no other code even using a UK mobile. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 The original of the words was given to me by an English guy who lives in France spends several months in Spain. He (A really fit and tough Ex military) and his wife both aged about45 were travelling near Zaragosa on their way to the coast south of Barcelona. They have an older (not worried about the odd scrape) large Mercedes based motorhome with a corsa in tow. An unmarked car overtook them and tried to get them to stop but the flashing Blue light fell out of the rear window. They saw that a woman was trying to put it back so decided to increase speed and threaten to ram the " False Police car" - which then spead off. We had a car with an apparent broken engine, bonnet up, try to flag us down, we did not stop but swerved around the guy waving us down and as we went by saw 2 other men hiding by the car. How they got passed us to another layby to try again is beyong us but try they did. This time it was foot down and not swerve to miss the waving thief. My wife and I were bl**dy scared and still shaking miles down the road, this probably explains how I had the bottle to go faster and not swerve These incidents did not involve " False Police" but neverless happened. I have travelled all over France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Belgium since 1970 and the last 4 years in a Motorhome. I have only been involved in the one incident, so it is pretty rare, but what if I had stopped ??????. Better to be prepared and moan that it was a waste if time rather than the other way round. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 mike 202 - 2011-02-28 6:52 We had a car with an apparent broken engine, bonnet up, try to flag us down, we did not stop but swerved around the guy waving us down and as we went by saw 2 other men hiding by the car. How they got passed us to another layby to try again is beyong us but try they did. Mike We had a simalar incedent in France (A Redish colour car) Did not stop, but like Mike they also got ahead of us, but this time we spotted them on the other side of the road. Probably local and know the side roads? PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T8LEY Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Have a read of this: http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/804472/winter%20information%20spain%20and%20portugal.pdf Looks like some of these tales come from CC members. The Safety advice which includes the stories, starts on page 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 T8LEY - 2011-02-28 10:28 PM Have a read of this: http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/media/804472/winter%20information%20spain%20and%20portugal.pdf Looks like some of these tales come from CC members. The Safety advice which includes the stories, starts on page 7. Ain't that just the way it goes. Fred told George that he'd heard from Bill that a mate that Bill once had a drink with may have said that some bloke he met once was robbed 27 years ago on some road somewhere on "the Continent"............thus "we can report that every square inch of Spain is filled with bandits". Let's be clear on this chaps and chapesses. By any official measure that I have ever seen, crime rates in Spain are MILES lower than in the UK. The odds of being robbed, raped, beaten up, diddled, swindled et al, are massively more likely in Britain than in Spain. The CC may be correct: One person from Britain might once in the past 40 years have had their wallet nicked whilst somewhere in Spain (which is about the same size and France, and has something over 44 million residents). But as one of those residents, I'm getting increasingly fed up with the hysterical stereotyping of the entire country as some sort of bandit territory. It simply is not. It has amongst the lowest crime rates across the EU. If they want to be more accurate, maybe print some CAPITAL LETTERS warnings about not leaving your MH unattended in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bradford, Glasgow, London, Liverpool etc city centres or "dodgy" areas for days at a time........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike 202 Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 BGD, I agree entirely with you about problems in the UK and as such would never leave my motorhome in certain areas. Therefore I take precautions in the UK the same as I do in any Country that I visit. I like Spain and the people and visit twice a year for 6 weeks at a time. It seems that itinerant workers from outside of Spain cause the problems. I presume that by living in Spain that you speak good Spanish. If someone tried to stop me in the UK then I can understand what they say and can argue the point in Englishand if necessary Dial 999. And no I am not lazy and have a working knowledge of French, but not the other european languages. So by all means, get annoyed, Protect your image of Spain. tell everyone that Spain has no problems, take no precautions, just enjoy and trust stastics that it will always be the other guy who gets bumped. Me, i dont even want to get into the area of risk if at all possible, but by - the 5P's as taught buy the Military, Proper-Planning -Prevents -Poor- Performance, I hope to minimise risk and maximise enjoyment. This is NOT a critisism of BGD, all comments in my opinion give a balanced view, just my thoughts and how I feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Tuckley Posted March 1, 2011 Share Posted March 1, 2011 As some of you are aware, we were recently robbed in Barcelona. Of course it alters our view of the city but I can say in our defence that when we were in the British Consulate to get new passports in order to come home, we had to join a queue of other people who had also had theirs stolen. The police told us there is a chronic heroin problem in the city and they say that it and a lot of the crime is due to South American influence. We were staying in Villa Nova i Getru at the time and were constantly being warned not to use the ATMs there as cards were being cloned and people robbed outside of the unmanned banks. We have never had any such problem anywhere in Europe, including UK. Sometimes we all have a moan about British Police but I assure you that compared with the cowboys in Spain they are wonderful. Just get off a local bus at Catelonia Square and count the number of beggars - it is unbelievable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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