Hi Neil.

Thanks for the warning, we had this tried on us round the Madrid area. A car with what looked like Morrocans came alongside and told us to pull over, I just ignored them and Kath took a photo and showed them that she was using the phone. I kept an eye on them but they left the motorway at the next exit.

As you say it can happen anywhere, you don't need to be in Spain.

I could not believe the poster on the other forum who had all his money, passport, cards and driving license etc. in a pocket of a jacket thrown over the back of a chair in the van. Surely the best thing is to hide all the cards cash etc you do not need that day. If the poster had done this he would have still have had a bad time but not lost all his things and had to go back to the UK.

Sooty

ps Off to Spain again soon.

I could not believe the poster on the other forum who had all his money, passport, cards and driving license etc. in a pocket of a jacket thrown over the back of a chair in the van. Surely the best thing is to hide all the cards cash etc you do not need that day. If the poster had done this he would have still have had a bad time but not lost all his things and had to go back to the UK.

Yes, it seems daft looking at it from an outside point of view but I suppose we all get a little complacent sometimes. I was more surprised that the victim, who I think is a fairly experienced motorhomer, didn't seem to be aware of these potential 'dangers' beforehand. Just shows that awareness of the situation needs to be passed on.

It's not something to be paranoid about but forewarned is forearmed, or something like that .

hi neil
we carry a A4 size sheet with. in spanish, " thankyou, we will stop at the next service station" in very bold letters.

touchwood never had to use it yet.

tom

Good idea Tom and hopefully you will never have to use it!

OK fellow travellers!

I'm the guy you 'cannot believe had all his money in a jacket' etc etc and so on who fell victim to this crime on December 10th, but this does not give carte blanche to the way in which these criminals brazenly operate in broad daylight, in full view of the public whilst the authorities appear to be sleeping. If you don't have any money or have hidden it away...then they will take whatever else they can get their hands on. Even your vehicle....complete with the cash you so carefully hid away in an attempt to outsmart and outwit.

Yes I made mistakes. Yes I spent the three day journey back to the UK beating myself over the head with endless "if only i'd done this or that".

But as if being robbed wasn't bad enough, I then experienced the most shoddy treatment from the Mossos d'Esquadra whom I literally had to beg for help. It then went from bad to worse as scenes which followed in the local Police Station bordered on the farcical.

It wasn't just cash that had been stolen. They also had my Passport which, given today's current climate of terrorism, I would have thought every country in Western Europe to view seriously.

It was only after returning back to the UK and posting on MMM forum that I discovered from many other Motorhome folk who posted on the thread I started that not only has this type of crime been on the increase in Spain and is rife, I was driving one of the most notorious areas, the AP-7 Autopista.

Now....this was my first ever tour to mainland Spain. The majority of my travelling takes me to East European countries, at times in very remote areas where absolutely zero English is spoken, and no doubt places where most of you would never venture as you would consider it to be 'uncivilised'. I never experienced any problems or 'suspect behaviour' whatsoever. The locals I met and socialised with were always friendly pleasant people and the language barrier never proved a problem. Remember we are talking about people here who (by our standards) are relatively poor.

So Spain which is frequented by millions of 'Brits' year in year out should have been a walk in the park. After all it's a civilised country....isn't it?

Rather than repeat everything in detail, for those who wish to read the thread I started on MMM you can pick it up from this link here;

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=25963&start=1

At the suggestion of a number of other MH'ers who pm'd me, i've opened a petition thread for those who wish to contribute;

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=26201&posts=20

As mentioned previously, I had no idea of the risks involved travelling the AP-7. Had I prior knowledge, then I would have taken an entirely different route. I personally feel that there is much the Spanish authorities could, and should be doing about warning foreign tourists. It is with this in mind that i've decided to start banging at a few doors (hence the petition idea) and written to all of my MEP's and also on the advice of one MEP, have drafted a letter to my MP asking him to represent on my behalf in communicating with the Spanish Ambassador to the UK.

Whilst a few doubters and cynics may not be singing from the same Hymn sheet as I am....making a noise about this is better than making no noise at all.

Hi Paul,

I really wish you the very best of luck with your campaign, I realise how fired up you are about the event and the official side of dealing (or not) with your situation. I will gladly PM you with my name and address to add to your petition.

You'll have a large mountain to climb and I hope you can maintain the energy to climb it.

For my part I would like to see more awareness of the original problem, the robbers that frequent these Autovias (and other places, lets not just single out Spain). I hope that all motorhome media help to spread the word.

Until there are any changes to the way things are (and possibly getting worse in a declining economy) it is only by creating awareness that folks in the future will know what to look for and how to deal with it, thereby avoiding the additional problems that you encountered with the authorities.

I also don't want new travelers to Spain to be unduly worried either. Although highlighted by your experiences and by displaying YouTube videos of these events it is not an everyday occurrence as far as motorhomers are concerned. Very, very many more motorhomes pass through these sort of areas without a hitch than the occasional one that gets caught up.

If all get to know about it then even that occasional one won't stop for the thieves either. I'm pretty sure that if you knew about the problem in advance you would have not been caught out, even if you had used that route.