Beware travelling in Spain!

[Bert]

So anyway, to steer back on track, here are some more reasons to "Beware Travelling in Spain!"

http://travelscams.org/europe/common-tourist-scams-spain/

 

[Dave2000]

Yep, plenty of scams going on all over the place. Not sure if I have warned about this one.

The 'gassing' of motorhome dwellers at night continues to be used despite the warnings, fake police officers, and of course the beggars.

One particular nasty scam is this one:

You arrive at the airport and collect the keys to your hire car. You locate the car in the car park and load the boot with your bags, you note the guy wearing a 'Goldline', 'Hertz' or whatever company logo on his shirt but it will match the company you have hired from, he or she is busy wiping the cars down with a chamois. Just as you are about to close the boot he points out that one of the wheel trims is missing, or a tyre is flat, you are now at the front of the car looking at the problem with one of the companies employees, at this point at least one of your bags will go missing as his (or her) accomplice helps themselves. On one occasion a victim was advised to go back to the desk for a damage report or he may get charged for the trim/puncture or whatever, this he did. When he retuned everything was gone, he had not locked the car!

The employee had simply had a T shirt made up with the company logo, this along with a bucket and cloth had completely puts victims at ease, of course the 'employee' who has now disappeared was nowhere to be seen, and was nothing to do with the hire company.

A good friend of mine came here many years ago, as he waited with the trolley while his wife went to get the hire car, some f*ckwit told him his wife had the car, he offered to push the trolley to the car park, this would help the clearly frail old man (terminal cancer) my friend agreed and within minutes a bag was missing! It seems these people (I use the term with unease) will target anyone, anywhere.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave2000]

This is really for someone thinking of bringing a car to Spain with a view to registering it here on a permanent basis. I have been contacted earlier this week by someone who has been in Spain around a week, he had parked his car in a supermarket car park. When he and his wife came out they were both arrested and their car impounded. They were released later that day after being fined TWO THOUSAND EUROS!!! A further ONE THOUSAND is being held until their car is presented at the Guardia Trafico with completed matriculation papers.

The couples plan was to drive over and change the papers for the vehicle at their leisure as they planned to live here. The reason for such a caning? The cars tax and MOT had expired, they were told 'it will be alright as we have done it before'. The fines were for driving an untaxed, MOT less vehicle and of course no MOT means the insurance in null and void (except in the event of death), they had fortunately not been involved in an accident.

I know it is very true in the past most foreign vehicles were given the blind eye, police had very few people that were fluent in a language other than their own, this is no longer the case and has not been for a number of years now. The couples car was presumably picked up by number plate recognition software being used in most police vehicles these days and they ARE linked to UK and presumably other EU countries vehicle data bases.

I am visiting this couple at the next village along the way to me later in the week to see what they need to have done and get the matriculation process started.

There seems to be 'phases' the police go through, at the moment it is number plates that have any damage, a local was fined around IIRC 250 euros a couple of months back for a damaged plate. And orange indicator bulbs that have had the coloured plastic fade leaving a white bulb is also being noted.

And for those who have Spanish registered vehicles the ITV (MOT) sticker on the windscreen with the expiry month punched was sufficient for police and insurance if your ITV was over 365 days (halve that for commercials), now the ITV MUST be done BEFORE the day of expiry. Spain is no longer the soft touch towards illegal vehicles it used to be, double and treble check your 'stuff' before you leave home people.

regards

Dave

 

[clivehorridge]

They have phases here too Dave, they have just recently homed in on the ITP (MOT) certificate.

When you get a pass certificate, they put a sticker on the "talon" which is the mini registration document you have to carry at all times when driving.

Now they've decided that you have to carry the A4 sized certificate as well. It's printed on regular A4 paper, so you gave to keep it in a wrapper to stop it getting damaged.

Failure to carry = 1,000 Lei, just under €240

Now, the compulsory carry-on paperwork is :
Vehicle Talon;
ITP Certificate;
Insurance certificate (original);
Rovignetta (local tax);
Driver's license;
Personal ID

Official (approved outlet only) hardware:
First-Aid Kit;
Fire Extinguisher;
2 Warning Triangles;
Yellow vest.

They'll change something else tomorrow ...

 

[Shayne]

I might have mention this before can't remember but i was asked (as everyone is) when leaving Romania entering Hungry for my passport , maybe it was a random thing but i was topped again a few meters on and asked for my driving licence and insurance which was looked at by someone who obviously couldn't read English , i was then asked for something i had never heard of which after a bit of pigeon English i assumed to be an m.o.t certificate , something i had already discovered was absent from my paperwork

I think i might have growled a bit when i asked "you want an mot from the UK" but nevertheless that was an end to the convo and he waved me on . I will never know why of course but i like to think UK was the magic word that transcended the language barrier and was met by a UK friendly security ?

I usually don't about care such things as paperwork but the above and this whole thread serves as a keen reminder that such attitudes are born in free countries and have no place in modern Europe .

 

[clivehorridge]

From my experience and from what I've heard about the way things have developed here, it's the other way around Shayne.

When I first came to Romania, the beaurocracy was rife, and a complete nightmare to find out where you were supposed to go and who to ask.

Even locals didn't know how or where.

I remember the U.K. before Swansea DVLC, but at least the localised system worked then, there.

Here in 2001, and it's only changed in the last 3 years, if you had an accident, itrrespective of who to blame or the amount of damage done, you had to leave the cars where they were (often blocking the road) and call the police. Failure to call the police was an offence.

Then you had to go to the police station, queue for about 4-6 hrs (no exaggeration) and make reports, then the police would judge who was in the wrong and issue them with a penalty.

Then you had to physically go to the insurance company (within 24 hours of the crash) to show the damaged vehicle complete with police report. Again, a queue of hours waiting to be seen and interviewed. Not going was another offence.

Then, armed with the insurance report and the police report, you were allowed to drive the vehicle prior to getting it repaired. Repairs were compulsory.

Any damage to a vehicle, had to have a police and insurance report even just a scratch, and even if you did it yourself on your gate or whatever.

It was crazy.

In 2002, I rented a Jeep grand Cherokee or some such, we drove from the airport on Friday evening, did some shopping, then at about 7:00 pm we were hit by a crazy guy, demolishing a front wheel, the suspension and the steering.

It was Sunday afternoon by the time we finished with all the form filling and reports. Absolute nightmare.

Now an accident is nothing to do with the police, unless there's a serious injury, so things are improving as they align with Europe.

Here, the MOT test is every 2 years, that has to be better than the U.K., surely, and it only costs about 10 quid

Sorry Dave, for the thread-jack, I'll gladly delete this if you want...

 

[Dave2000]

Sorry Dave, for the thread-jack, I'll gladly delete this if you want...

No problem Clive, leave as is. It does no harm to share different experiences whether good or bad, and this would not be the first thread that had wandered off the original topic, it will drift back in time

regards

Dave

 

[Mojo]

As I neared the Portuguese/Spanish Border last week on a minor road, trying to avoid any arm of the law (technical reasons), I was flashed by an oncoming driver, warning me of a GNR police check point up ahead. There they were on the roundabout and duly pulled me over. After the usual morning pleasantry, for the next twenty minutes the police just wanted to talk about the Landcruiser and show me all his 40 series pictures and restoration work. I was never asked to produce a license, or questioned where I was going. I think he could have talked for hours, he always dreamed of owning a 80 series, but they are super expensive in Portugal.

 

[frank rabbets]

Same thing happened in UK getting through border control from France to Portsmouth. Always a huge queue since 9/11. Man checked my passport and then started to talk about 80's and came out to look round it. Huge queue with people trying to change lanes to avoid us. They were obviously thinking "what's this prat (me) been up to ?".

 

[Dave2000]

I think I have mentioned it before that I have been stopped more times in Spain in one year than I have in my entire motoring career in the UK. I have absolutely no issues with it, and TBH if they catch some poor sod with no brief then fair cop it is, he pays the fine and moves on. If they catch someone running around with something way more sinister like a bomb or a car full of guns with intent to maim or kill then all the better, as long as they throw him or her in a pit and empty a gallon of petrol on them and throw in a match then all the better IMO. Er.......am I allowed to say we should set fire to potential bombers/terrorists caught before the act....or perhaps even after? Did you say no and that is not PC?

TOUGH!!


regards

Dave

 

[goodoldboy]

I think I have mentioned it before that I have been stopped more times in Spain in one year than I have in my entire motoring career in the UK. I have absolutely no issues with it, and TBH if they catch some poor sod with no brief then fair cop it is, he pays the fine and moves on. If they catch someone running around with something way more sinister like a bomb or a car full of guns with intent to maim or kill then all the better, as long as they throw him or her in a pit and empty a gallon of petrol on them and throw in a match then all the better IMO. Er.......am I allowed to say we should set fire to potential bombers/terrorists caught before the act....or perhaps even after? Did you say no and that is not PC?

TOUGH!!


regards

Dave

The presumption of innocence , habeas corpus , & a fair , open trial are all essential.Even the Nazi war criminals had a trial.The problem with summary executions are that any political enemy is far game - just call em terrorists or worse still nonces.Iran & China have a long history of dealing with troublesome folk this way & you only have to look at how Saudi Arabia & the gulf states treat "suspects"

 

[froggy Steve]

We were pulled over by the Gendarmerie a little while ago, checking for terrorists.....a girly had machine gun......however, they checked in the front of the van, the paperwork etc, but didnt look in the back where I had 250kg of semtex and 100 AK47's............(not really, my CZ858 was at home in the gun safe ) but, why didnt they look in the back? bonkers!

 

[Dave2000]

The presumption of innocence , habeas corpus , & a fair , open trial are all essential.Even the Nazi war criminals had a trial.The problem with summary executions are that any political enemy is far game - just call em terrorists or worse still nonces.Iran & China have a long history of dealing with troublesome folk this way & you only have to look at how Saudi Arabia & the gulf states treat "suspects"

I do not agree, IMO the trial was already completed before the suspects were pulled up. The one, two or more terrorist's decide to blow up or attack 'X' persons/place. They have now made a decision based on religion, race hate, or plain old stupidity but the decision was made, it is a pre meditated decision.

They then make a conscious decision to purchase materials or guns to carry out such an attack, and then they are caught red handed, trial over.

My pre meditated decision is, don't do the crime if you can't do the time, you will be executed if you are caught with intent.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave2000]

Just watched an interview this morning on Sky News, it was with family members of one of the victims of the Westminster attack, they were very outspoken in their opinions. I applaud their honesty and I am sure this reflects true feelings of affected families. One woman said she wished the attacker had survived so he could be made to suffer, even offering to run him over herself.

I think I am contributing to the thread wandering off topic, sorry.

regards

Dave

 

[frank rabbets]

Shooting people at the side of the road would save a lot of expense and paperwork but there lies the road to witness corruption.

 

[Dave2000]

This is an extract from the you gov site.

' It's illegal for a shop to sell any kind of knife to someone under 18. This includes kitchen knives and even cutlery.

It's also illegal for shops to sell imitation guns or air weapons to anyone under 18-years-old, or to sell realistic imitation guns to anyone.

You'll be committing an offence if you buy any of these items. Possessing a knife or firearm (whether it's yours or not) is illegal and can result in a prison sentence.

Some knives are illegal for even adults to buy. The below are all categorised as offensive weapons and are completely banned:

• Flick knives - also called ‘switchblades’ or ‘automatic knives’.
• Butterfly knives
• Disguised knives - in which the blade is hidden in something like a belt buckle or fake mobile phone.

You can find out more about these and other types of illegal knives on the DirectGov website.

Things to know
Carrying a weapon in school does not mean it is just a school matter; the police will become involved and take action. For anyone carrying a knife or a gun, including those under 16, the consequences are tough.

• It is illegal to carry a knife or a gun, or imitation firearm.
• If you are caught with a knife or a gun, regardless of whether you say it was for your own protection or you were carrying it for someone else, you will be arrested and prosecuted.
• Possession of a knife can carry a prison sentence of up to 4 years even if it's not used.
• There's a minimum 5-year sentence for carrying a gun if you're over 18. If you're under 18, you could still go to prison.
• If you stab somebody and they die, you will face a life sentence and will serve a minimum prison sentence of 25 years.
• Causing the death of someone with a gun carries a life sentence and you will serve a mandatory 30-year prison sentence.
• If someone is injured or killed by a knife or gun in your presence, even if you're not the one using the weapon, you too could be prosecuted. You could be sent to prison for murder in what is referred to as ‘joint enterprise’.

"Joint enterprise" explained:-

You can be found guilty of murder if, for example:

• you are part of a group and someone in that group kills someone with a weapon or by some other means (this includes attacks where the victim is punched, kicked etc.)
• if you knew that the person was going to use violence or knew they were carrying a weapon, even though you didn't agree to the attack or use of the weapon but remained as part of that group

To avoid liability under joint enterprise you would have to be no longer part of the group; actively do something to prevent the offence from taking place; stop the attack by physical intervention or call the police. However it is very difficult to prove that you had communicated your withdrawal and the only effective means of avoiding liability would to not be part of the group in the first place.

Remember - the law is clear - if you choose to carry a weapon, you put your future in danger. If you don't take it with you, it won't be used.'


So the law is crystal clear, carry a knife and using it causes a death = 25 years. Carry a gun and it is used to kill someone = 30 years.

This is surely very simple, make it law, Get caught with a bomb and your executed. I see no reason to debate, you are carrying it to do harm to persons and property....nuff said.


regards

Dave

 

[Chas]

This is an extract from the you gov site.

' It's illegal for a shop to sell any kind of knife to someone under 18. This includes kitchen knives and even cutlery.

It's also illegal for shops to sell imitation guns or air weapons to anyone under 18-years-old, or to sell realistic imitation guns to anyone.

You'll be committing an offence if you buy any of these items. Possessing a knife or firearm (whether it's yours or not) is illegal and can result in a prison sentence.

Some knives are illegal for even adults to buy. The below are all categorised as offensive weapons and are completely banned:

• Flick knives - also called ‘switchblades’ or ‘automatic knives’.
• Butterfly knives
• Disguised knives - in which the blade is hidden in something like a belt buckle or fake mobile phone.

You can find out more about these and other types of illegal knives on the DirectGov website.

Things to know
Carrying a weapon in school does not mean it is just a school matter; the police will become involved and take action. For anyone carrying a knife or a gun, including those under 16, the consequences are tough.

• It is illegal to carry a knife or a gun, or imitation firearm.
• If you are caught with a knife or a gun, regardless of whether you say it was for your own protection or you were carrying it for someone else, you will be arrested and prosecuted.
• Possession of a knife can carry a prison sentence of up to 4 years even if it's not used.
• There's a minimum 5-year sentence for carrying a gun if you're over 18. If you're under 18, you could still go to prison.
• If you stab somebody and they die, you will face a life sentence and will serve a minimum prison sentence of 25 years.
• Causing the death of someone with a gun carries a life sentence and you will serve a mandatory 30-year prison sentence.
• If someone is injured or killed by a knife or gun in your presence, even if you're not the one using the weapon, you too could be prosecuted. You could be sent to prison for murder in what is referred to as ‘joint enterprise’.

"Joint enterprise" explained:-

You can be found guilty of murder if, for example:

• you are part of a group and someone in that group kills someone with a weapon or by some other means (this includes attacks where the victim is punched, kicked etc.)
• if you knew that the person was going to use violence or knew they were carrying a weapon, even though you didn't agree to the attack or use of the weapon but remained as part of that group

To avoid liability under joint enterprise you would have to be no longer part of the group; actively do something to prevent the offence from taking place; stop the attack by physical intervention or call the police. However it is very difficult to prove that you had communicated your withdrawal and the only effective means of avoiding liability would to not be part of the group in the first place.

Remember - the law is clear - if you choose to carry a weapon, you put your future in danger. If you don't take it with you, it won't be used.'


So the law is crystal clear, carry a knife and using it causes a death = 25 years. Carry a gun and it is used to kill someone = 30 years.

This is surely very simple, make it law, Get caught with a bomb and your executed. I see no reason to debate, you are carrying it to do harm to persons and property....nuff said.


regards

Dave

What about knives carried in the vehicle as part of your tool kit? or do the laws relate to those carried on your person?

 

[Dave2000]

What about knives carried in the vehicle as part of your tool kit? or do the laws relate to those carried on your person?

I think it is related to being carried on your person and the 'type' of knife, for example, if you are a carpet fitter and you are stopped with a tool kit in the boot which clearly has a knife that would be used by such a trade then I guess that has to be considered legal and is being carried, in the same way a carpenter would have a hammer.

Opening the boot to find a kilo of Semtex with a Timex attached to it and then saying "oh, I must have left that in there after I went shopping yesterday" is not going to cut it, no pun intended.

regards

Dave

 

[Chas]

I'm talking about a leatherman in your car, locking blade know what I mean?

 

[froggy Steve]

Tbh, the law needs to be tough. When I carry guns to & from the range, they have a trigger lock and then either in a locked hard case or lock soft canvas bag (tactical bag for my cz858) ammo is also in a locked case. Oh yeah they are all individually registered and the feds come round every time I ask to buy another one to check the gun lockers are still there and locked......its supposed to be a surprise check but if I am not here they leave a note to arrange an rv.....as for knives I have loads and carrying a knife here in the country is a normal affair. After all, one needs to eat......3-4 inch blade, sometimes locked is ok.