10 Feb 2015 12:38 AM:

Again - many thanks guys. A very useful link to a dashcam and also more useful and appreciated comments with a bit of Grandma humour as well !!

I just wonder whether the police would be interested in following up any dashcam images.

Regards

John

 

.

Thread: Highway Robbers

--------------------------------------

09 Feb 2015 9:53 PM:

Dear all

Many thanks for all of your comments and advice. I am veering towards adopting the route planning and the avoiding of exposure to the risk rather than the confrontational approach. I very much like the comments regarding the visible camera and the obvious use of the mobile phone as a serious deterrent from within the locked car. This brings me to wonder whether anyone has any experience of these dashboard cameras / dashcams, any recommended models and whether they can provide any useful images and in all fairness whether the Spanish police are at all motivated to follow up on photo evidence. It was also very useful to learn that one of the distractions is caused by the highwaymen throwing something at the car to cause the bang rather than shooting at the tyres!

I cannot help but wonder about the comments that these incidents have been common in the Barcelona area for many years and they are still happening. This either means that the police have been rather ineffective in catching and prosecuting the perpetrators or alternatively the highwayman trade has proved quite lucrative and has hence encouraged new recruits into the trade! Alternatively there may be a language problem between the police / highwaymen and the legal system. I don't know whether anyone keeps a track of the statistics behind these incidents but it would be interesting to monitor the incidents versus prosecutions performance. At the end of the day I would have thought it would be high on the Spanish governmental agenda to ensure that negatives from this sort of incident are kept well under control so as not to detract from their tourism initiatives.

Anyway, thanks for your inputs so far.

John

 

Thread: Highway Robbers

--------------------------------------

08 Feb 2015 12:16 AM:

We own a lovely villa on the Costa Blanca North near Denia and have been driving up and down to the villa for the last 12 years. Our journeys have always been well planned and event free other than for the occasional puncture. We have used several different routes just to make a change of scenery and have varied our stopover choices year on year.

This last New Year some friends of ours decided to drive down to the Costas using the coastal motorways due to the winter weather risks of driving across central Spain. When they were at a peage just north of Barcelona someone from a neighbouring car in the queue managed to stab their rear tyre with a knife and induce a slow puncture. Fortunately the lady inside the peage paystation saw this happening and advised our friends to pull over and inspect the damaged tyre. A short time later the police turned up and assisted them with the tyre change utilising their spare "get you home" tyre but unfortunately the perpetrators of the incident managed to get away.

Our friends continued their journey south and after about ten kilometers heard a loud bang from the rear of the car. Another car drew alongside and one of the passengers was waving a reflective jacket and telling them to stop and check their car tyres. They pulled onto the side of the motorway and both opened their respective car doors to inspect any damage. With that the other car stopped as well and the occupants caused a distraction whilst one of their number invaded our friend's Mercedes, stole two handbags, wallet, laptops, mobile phones and credit cards. Upon suddenly seeing the car invader our friend shouted out and immediately returned to their car , closed the doors and the perpetrators drove off. Fortunately our friend had another mobile phone in his pocket and was able to phone the local police who took something like 30 minutes to turn up because they were unable to describe their accurate position along the motorway. The police were very helpful and the friends provided the usual police statements and the police arranged for them and their car to be moved to a nearby hotel so that replacement tyres could be sorted. They continued their journey after a couple of days.

I know that these days these incidents are not unusual and I believe our friends were fortunate to survive the experience without suffering any physical harm, just a mental trauma. Our friends did fit the normal profile of highwayman targets being fit and able retirees driving a quality Mercedes ML350 four wheel drive and with UK registration plates. They were able to communicate satisfactorily with the police and in all fairness are very well experienced world travellers.

This incident begs the questions as to what are the recommended actions if such an incident happens again. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions as to any lines of defence besides carrying an AK47 !!  What about these new dashboard cameras which appear to be used extensively in Russia and Eastern Europe. UK registration plates appear to be a magnetic attraction to these highwaymen but what can we do about it? It would be useful to find out whether there is any advice available from the Spanish police as to any recommended defensive action or procedures to be adopted in such an event or should we just let such incidents happen without any retaliation?.

We want to continue to enjoy our driving up and down to the Costa Blanca but when events like this happen to close friends it does make us wonder whether we should become frequent flyers with EasyJet and Ryanair. I must admit that taking our own UK registered car to Spain does enable us to transport more luggage and belongings as well as pets and does give us flexibility for touring and having interesting drives home instead of enjoying the hospitality of Gatwick airport.

Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated before we make our next bookings for Easter!

We have our own ideas as to the ethnic background of the highwaymen and I am sure the police will have their own ideas but I don't believe that is for discussion here for obvious reasons!!!

 

 

 

Thread: Highway Robbers

--------------------------------------