Robbed at Tarragona Toll Booth 5th May 2012

[mike 202]

Yesterday a Belgian couple pulled onto the next pitch to me in Vinaros and looked very distressed, I asked if I could help and they asked if I could direct them to the Guardia Civil as they had been robbed. I sorted them out and helped them cancell their credit cards.

 

The robbery unfolded as follows:-

As they approached the toll booth with 3 cars in front of them, because they had a caravan they left a gap as they approached the toll booth, then a cheeky car pulled into the gap. They thought nothing of it other than cheeky B*stard who could not wait.

However unknown to them a passenger had been dropped off from the car with a smoke bomb. Next 2 people got out of the car in front and were banging on the window pointing to smoke coming from the rear , between the car and the caravan. The couple got out to inspect and stop what appeared to be a fire, the thieves then took the ladies bag with passports,credit cards etc. By now the original 3 cars had gone through the toll booth leaving the thieves a free run to the booth and escape to freedom.

 

Now this may seem partly irrelevant to us motorhomers, but we have had cheeky drivers pull in front of us at toll booths and other that being a bit p*ssed off thought nothing of it. A smoke bomb at the back of my motorhome would of had me grabbing the fire extinguisher and hot footing to the rear of the motorhome, especially as we were at a toll booth and would have felt safe. I might have had a different reaction if I was on a M-Way aire or ordinary road.

 

I have been saved from being robbed by information posted on this forum and while I hope that non of my fellow forum members get in this situation, Still hopefully forewarned is fore armed.

 

Safe travels to all, Regards Mike

[Guest JudgeMental]

we are still in Spain until next week and have heard many a story about thefts and attempted robbery on the Barcelona corridor and north in France also .One chap on site had a genuine accident when an old lady side swiped his autotrail...when the police arrived they gave him a severe telling of for leaving his habitation door unlocked! went on to say watch out for thieves stabbing your tyres.

 

another group of 5 motor homes traveling together where all robbed overnight on a motorway aire near lyon..and the worst related to me secondhand, was a family with young grandchildren who claim (here we go!) that they were gassed..they woke up late and thought the younger grandchild was dead, as they could not wake her, thankfully she came around. the more experienced motorhomers down here have 20 years of anecdotes..I could relate stories all day long but whats the point......

 

anyone who takes this easterly route needs their head examined, when the westerly route is only about 100km longer and avoids Paris and major areas of concern.

 

some neighbors concerned that I am traveling back alone, and have been warned NOT to stop and leave vehicle anywhere, supermarkets, restaurants...ANYWHERE and be especially alert in toll ques! leave enough room in front to swerve out of que if you see anything untoward going on behind you

 

I have a smallvHD video cam that I use with my bike...this will be mounted on dashboard to record any attempts, so fingers crossed on way home..but more likely to hit you on way down as all my monies are nearly gone now *-)

 

anyway everything goes in the safe except enough cash to keep me going, so unless that have a sledge hammer they are in for slim pickings

 

we will be back next winter because it is absolutely lovely down here :-D

[Cattwg]

Thank you for the information Mike. That’s a new tactic to me.

In 2009 I posted a tyre stabbing incident that occurred to us - Bacelona and the surrounding motorways have long been bandit country.

John :-D

[Cattwg]

Thank you for the information Mike. That’s a new tactic to me.

In 2009 I posted a tyre stabbing incident that occurred to us - Bacelona and the surrounding motorways have long been bandit country.

John :-D

[johnnerontheroad]

Have oll boths not got CCTV?

 

Dave

[Guest JudgeMental]

johnnerontheroad - 2012-05-06 12:59 PM

 

Have oll boths not got CCTV?

 

Dave

 

they drive stolen cars? what use a cctv camera after the event, .lots of video on net off cctv footage observing robberies...... In Benidorm there are police everywhere! why not on toll boths and service stations further North*-)

[Bulletguy]

I was also robbed very close to the Tarragonna Toll booths and somebody posted in my thread "Robbed in Spain", about having his tyre stabbed at a Toll Booth. What angers me most about this increasing crime which is so blatant it's carried out in broad daylight in full view of hundreds of people who simply do nothing but stand by and watch, or turn away. Nobody helps and even the Police show little interest. They are too busy sleeping.

 

It needs much more pro-active Policing actually on patrol rather than sitting around. My experience of dealing with the Police was not a good one at all and when I got back home I made it known via my MP who fired off a number of letters to the Spanish Ambassador in the UK, who coincidentally is from Barcelona himself!

 

Spain needs to start cracking down hard and heavy on this crime and they need to wake up before it's too late. Tourists will begin taking their money to spend elsewhere where it's safer........in Eastern Europe for example. I've been in the East far more than West and never have any problems.

 

[Guest JudgeMental]

and it will continue as long as people are so slack with their valuables, possessions and monies...Such easy pickings hard for these criminals to resist. if it was not worthwhile it would not be continuing for so long...

[chas]

Watched that TV programe a while back about our British consuls in Spain, in which the Barcelona police admit they do not bother with muggings or thefts if the value of the crime is less than 400 euros !

 

The British consul was trying to show the Spanish police that this would have a bad effect on tourism, but of course they cannot be to strong with authorites of foriegn countries.

 

It does appear to be getting worse there, but I feel that many of the incidents are perpertrated by gangs of eastern europeans who now have free access to countrys with no proper boarder controls, rather than local spanish nationals.

 

Howerer the high rise in unemployment is not going to make it any better in Spain. :'(

[PJay]

We have just come down from France to-day, via the Motorway, and came off just before Taragona, There were staff at the tolls, so no problems, having been in a HAIL Storm a few miles back. Staying to night at Torredembarra, nice new site, apart from the TRAINS. May bump into some of you, not sure how far we are going, as have found the sun now, weather pretty grotty in France

 

Pauline

[plumbersvan]

PJay - 2012-05-06 6:07 PM

 

We have just come down from France to-day, via the Motorway, and came off just before Taragona, There were staff at the tolls, so no problems, having been in a HAIL Storm a few miles back. Staying to night at Torredembarra, nice new site, apart from the TRAINS. May bump into some of you, not sure how far we are going, as have found the sun now, weather pretty grotty in France

 

Pauline

 

:'( On another thread ive once again been castigated for mentioning the weather,and again for mentioning where i was "Its OT" They said ruddly

 

Which campsite has judgmental been staying in Spain?I would mention fish,but again in another thread i was critisised badly for mentioning sardines :-S

 

Im rather conserned as to how im going to get to Portugal without crossing "Bandit contry--Spain 8-) "In October/November

[Guest JudgeMental]

27 deg and sunny again! was over cast with showers yesterday and it was a nice change...:D

 

sardines 2.50 - 3.50 a Kilo8-) had a lunch of large langoustine and sardines yesterday cost for a dozen of each 5 euro

[plumbersvan]

:-S 8-) Thats very good.My last sardines were filited 7€kg but the forgot to remove the boans or scales *-)

 

In case you havnt heard that disaster sarkozy has gone :-D

 

Oh and the police in the UK have a new mobile radar if you pass a car with it fitted (The car may be doing any speed in any direction)If your speeding when you pass it you will get a fine :'(

I hope this dreadful thing remains in the UK & Germany :-(

 

Where did you say this camping is?? *-)

[Bulletguy]

chas - 2012-05-06 4:43 PM

 

Watched that TV programe a while back about our British consuls in Spain, in which the Barcelona police admit they do not bother with muggings or thefts if the value of the crime is less than 400 euros !

 

The British consul was trying to show the Spanish police that this would have a bad effect on tourism, but of course they cannot be to strong with authorites of foriegn countries.

 

It does appear to be getting worse there, but I feel that many of the incidents are perpertrated by gangs of eastern europeans who now have free access to countrys with no proper boarder controls, rather than local spanish nationals.

 

Howerer the high rise in unemployment is not going to make it any better in Spain. :'(

 

Three youths were involved in my robbery which is how they seem to operate.....in threes. But I never saw the third youth until the car pulled away and the two who got out of the car, driver and passenger, only one spoke to me and spoke in fluent French.

 

So were they French or East European? Cannot be 100% but it's certainly not the native tongue of a Bulgarian or Romanian etc. Interestingly during my return back out of Spain, just before the border I got talking with a guy parked up alongside me and noticed his plates 'BG' so from Bulgaria. He understood a little English and I told him what i'd just been through. He opened the side door of his van which was filled with cartons, slit one open and pulled a large bag of cashew nuts out and handing them to me said "I have not much in money but please take this for your journey".

 

I speak as I find and can only reiterate what i've previously said. The majority of my touring has been in the East and i've never had any problems with anyone there, and some areas i've travelled in are really seriously poor which many on the board would consider 'uncivilised and too remote'. Spain *supposedly* is neither of those.

 

We also of course have high unemployment here in our country along with millions of minimum wage and casual workers. But despite the cuts in the Police Force, we have a very high presence of CCTV (we are not known as 'the most watched' for nothing!) and the Police are pro-active in keeping on top of criminality.

 

The Mossos d'Esquadra whom I had to beg for help were more interested in basking in the midday sunshine listening to music in their patrol cars.

 

I'm sorry but in my book that is totally unacceptable and matters simply went from bad to worse when I was eventually taken to a Police Station. It was more akin to a scene from the Pink Panther with Clouseau running the show.

 

Some facts; http://www.robbedinbarcelona.com/2011/12/12/fines-and-jailtime-for-robbery-in-barcelona-explained/

[Brian Kirby]

This is not to condone or excuse, but countries differ greatly in their approach to observance, and enforcement, of their laws. This just has to be accepted.

 

Spain has a fairly appalling history, with events within living memory reinforcing a kind of "omerta" approach to illegality. So, if you want a quiet, trouble-free life, you see nothing, you say nothing, and you definitely do nothing. So it has been for a very long time for ordinary folk.

 

I was warned during a visit to the Costa Brava in about 1965, to be very careful and stay well clear of the gypsies, who were apt to take sudden offence at what they perceived as a slight, and pull, and use knives. The then largely conscript Guardia were pretty useless, were given to violence themselves, and were pretty much universally reviled. So, if you upset the gypsies and got cut up, there was little chance anyone would be tracked down, let alone caught or prosecuted. Besides which, the whole lot would simply move on after the event, and long before any Guardia would get close. That was in Franco's time, and they are still arguing now over whether or not to exhume the bodies of all his "disappeared", because on the one hand it might resurrect old tensions, but on the other it would give "closure" to the families. Spain has a dark past, and it still casts long shadows.

 

Recent events have resulted in astronomical levels of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. A country that practises bull fighting is not, generally, risk averse so, depending on the moral code of your friends and family, a little blagging offers excitement and potential loot, with a spicing of risk. Not by any means a national pastime, and the honest, law abiding Spanish are as appalled at what some of their fellow countrymen do as you or me. Nevertheless, few will stick their heads above the parapet to say so in public.

 

It is still a fledgling democracy, and not that long back someone opened up with a machine gun in the Spanish parliament. It needs time to mature, but it is doing so.

 

All I am saying is that the English Cotswolds it emphatically is not. Folk must accept it for what it is, warts and all, or learn more of its ways and discriminate more carefully where they go, or should really simply stay away. We have now had a couple of longish runs around Spain with the van, have parked in selected roads, and in supermarkets, have walked around several Spanish cities, and have not felt threatened in any way. However, we stayed well away from Barcelona and most of the Med coast, and I simply do not like that stretch of motorway between La Jonquera and Tarragona because it is where I have experienced the worst, most aggressive, driving in Spain. Driving apart, it is in any case, IMO, far from the nicest route, so I see no point in using it. Elsewhere, the Spanish are generally courteous, careful drivers, and the people, if a little unsmiling are, I would say, as honest as any anywhere else. Jut stay out of bandit country!

[Guest JudgeMental]

In London I have normally 2-3 near misses on my bike per week..these life threatening situations are accompanied with a high degree of rudeness and very poor road manners and lack of consideration for cyclists.I have now bought a miniature dvd camera to record these details and number plates :-D

 

6 weeks in Benidorm: it is like a different world! you dont feel threatened cycling, EVERY vehicle from truck/bus to car gives you a wide berth..you feel SAFE and it is wonderful cycling here...with lots of cycleways....

 

until last week while cycling back from supermarket in town and I was nearly had of the bike by a large motorhome who was glued to the lane and refused to move over centre reservation as everyone does, much rather put me in the gutter.......Yes you guessed it, a UK van with bikes on the back! I could not believe it, chased but he was away.

 

There is a lot of police around, you fee safe they are on the case as Benidorm's reputation seems to matter to them. they have been arresting and clearing out the East Europeans responsible for the theft and pickpocketing. In town last night,lovely walking along front, 20 deg and warm at 10 in the evening,wonderful Spanish restaurant,we love the place.....taxi on way back passed what we call hooligan alley full of english bars..first time we had seen it, its there if you want it but easily ignored, and Benidorm is still a real Spanish town

 

Its 100 km longer taking a westerly route down..why put yourself through running the gauntlet...Like Bryan says do yourselves a favor and avoid the Barcelona corridor like the plague *-)

[JamesFrance]

JudgeMental - 2012-05-07 10:02 AM

 

 

There is a lot of police around, you fee safe they are on the case as Benidorm's reputation seems to matter to them. they have been arresting and clearing out the East Europeans responsible for the theft and pickpocketing. In town last night,lovely walking along front, 20 deg and warm at 10 in the evening,wonderful Spanish restaurant,we love the place.....taxi on way back passed what we call hooligan alley full of english bars..first time we had seen it, its there if you want it but easily ignored, and Benidorm is still a real Spanish town

 

Its 100 km longer taking a westerly route down..why put yourself through running the gauntlet...Like Bryan says do yourselves a favor and avoid the Barcelona corridor like the plague *-)

 

You don't see many police around in the winter. They must come out of the woodwork once the British hooligans need keeping under control.

 

When we lived in Wales we found that the western route was actually a little shorter than the east, but maybe that was because we rarely used paying motorways and we crossed the mountains to St Jean Pied de Port.

[tonyishuk]

Answer is simples !

 

Tow a car with an A frame and the spanish police will be round you like flies.

 

No eastern europeans in sight.

 

Rgds

 

 

I should add of cause in case of political correctness and A frame debate :D

[crinklystarfish]

Wouldn't that mean you'd just get robbed, then fined. Or fined then robbed?

[Losos]

chas - 2012-05-06 5:43 PMI feel that many of the incidents are perpertrated by gangs of eastern europeans who now have free access to countrys with no proper boarder controls

 

This is so true and I highlighted it in the thread from Bulletguy a few months back. These criminals (From wherever they come) know very well that there are NO CONTROLS at the borders any more so if they can do a quick job one side and get back over the border the Police can do nothing, they can not cross the border, they probably have a language problem, they certainly have different laws and procedures to abide by, the criminals KNOW this and are exploiting it to maximum advantage.

 

[Bulletguy]

There seems to be a forgone conclusion in any thread concerning robberies in a foreign country that the perpetrators must be East European. This is often used as an excuse even within our own country. Whilst I cannot deny that East Europeans do travel to the UK, I can only speak as I find which, from my experience of spending the majority of my travels taking me into East European countries rather than the West, I have never once experienced any problems with the people. And many of these people I have mixed and socialised with are way way poorer than any Spanish national (from what bit of Spain I managed to observe!).

 

As previously stated the only robber who spoke to me spoke in fluent French. Maybe he was French.....I will never know, and I suppose France could be considered slightly to the 'east' of Spain, but not what I would term East Europe.

 

As for Border Controls, they are gone forever.......and not about to come back so each country which signed up to the Schengen Agreement (there are now 26 with 4 being non-EU) had better begin getting used to that. If their Government, Policing, Legal and Political System are incapable of exercising basic control and order within their own country, then it's high time they woke up and began learning how to.

 

To me my own country borders virtually on that of a Totalitarian State where (in my own experience) I am stopped, questioned as to the purpose of my travel, how much money I am carrying, proposed length of stay outside the UK, and have my van searched every single time I travel out through Dover Port. Not only exiting the country, but also on re-entering.

 

On the inside of a UK Passport it states ".....requires in the name of Her Majesty to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance......". Hhmmm.....Interesting.

 

As we are not a signatory to the Schengen Agreement we still have our Barrier, Borders, Goons and crazy chicanery at the Ports, yet according to the Daily Wail and various other 'rag mags' we are overrun with 'millions of illegal immigrants'.........so apparently we must be proof that Border Controls do not work.

 

 

 

 

 

[crinklystarfish]

"Requests and requires..." is the blurb, and in many countries outside of Europe the accent is very much on "requests". It can take days to get over some borders - if at all. Her Maj never mentioned "with a little bribe" either, but it's sometimes needed.

I personally don't presume the nationality of any thief but there has been published evidence to suggest eastern European criminals are more and more prolific in western Europe.

Also, the only place in Europe (outside of the UK) I've been done so far is Romania. The gypsy stronghold towns are thronged with British registered cars. That could of course mean that Romanian gypsies are simply doing rather well picking cabbages in Lincolnshire.

I don't buy into the 'whip up a frenzy against eastern European migrants' Daily Mail type nonsense but that doesn't mean some of them aren't thieves.

In the same way that I'm quite sure France has many home-grown thieves, Spain has many home-grown thieves, and these shores of ours are perhaps the worst of all for home-grown scum who aren't quite content with the money the state takes from me to give to them to continue churning out scum.

Criminality is not the same as nationality.

[Losos]

Bulletguy - 2012-05-09 12:52 AMTo me my own country borders virtually on that of a Totalitarian State where (in my own experience) I am stopped, questioned as to the purpose of my travel, how much money I am carrying, proposed length of stay outside the UK, and have my van searched every single time I travel out through Dover Port. Not only exiting the country, but also on re-entering.

 

Firstly let me reiterate that in my post above I used the term "from wherever they come" I choose those words carefully because it seems obvious to me that the most likely crooks around the French / Spanish border are going to be French / Spanish nationals, like wise the majority of crooks around the Czech / Polish borders are Czech / Polish (This has been confirmed to me by the local Police)

 

Moving on to your problems entering or leaving UK I can only suggest that you switch to using Eurotunnel because I have done eight trips across in the last year (four each way) and my experience is:-

a) UK to Europe never ever been stopped, I offer my passport and the French man just waves me through and never looks at it.

 

b) Europe to UK I stop at the UK border control on the French side and a nice lady has a quick scan of the passport and another nice lady asks me a couple of questions (Often related to where I parked that night which is obvious and fully welcomed by me and of course I never park overnight around Calais)

 

I welcome these questions and wish they would ask more, and while answering I reflect on what it was like trying to get into Czechoslovakia (as it then was) during the communist era.

 

Why is my experience so completely different to yours? I have no idea, but as I say I only use Eurotunnel and nothing would make me switch back to the ferry now.

 

[Bulletguy]

crinklystarfish - 2012-05-09 8:16 AM

 

I personally don't presume the nationality of any thief but there has been published evidence to suggest eastern European criminals are more and more prolific in western Europe.

 

Maybe they've all left and moved...........to West European countries making travel in the East so much more a pleasant trouble free experience.

 

I'm currently planning a month to six weeks in Bulgaria, and later into Hungary, back across to the east border of Poland and, insurance pending, into Ukraine.

 

 

 

 

Losos - 2012-05-09 12:58 PM

 

Moving on to your problems entering or leaving UK I can only suggest that you switch to using Eurotunnel because I have done eight trips across in the last year (four each way) and my experience is...... I only use Eurotunnel and nothing would make me switch back to the ferry now.

 

Losos

 

My reasons for never using the tunnel are;

 

1) I have a 300 mile drive to get to Dover and crossing the Channel via ferries has always provided a welcome break. Also I prefer the open air to being barricaded in and shoved down a drainpipe like a rat.

 

2) Cost. Since Eurotunnel opened it has never once matched comparable Ferry fares which are much cheaper.

[Guest JudgeMental]

By the time you wait, board, cross and disembark I can be 3 hours down the road via the tunnel *-)