AlanHo Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 A freind just sent me this Email :-My saga refers not to a holiday in Portugal but an emergency in Spain and concerns my brother in law, who is trying to build log homes in Spain, though why anyone living in Spain would want one rather than the traditional cement rendered brick buildings that are so cool in summer, I cannot imagine. He already has a warehouse full of logs at Puerto Lumbreras, that's about midway between Almeria and Alicante and decided to drive over through France to the said Puerto Lumbreras with a trailer carrying all his tools. We were staying at our eldest daughter's home in Morden, Surrey for the weekend and I received a frantic telephone call from my sister to say that Gren had been robbed just south of Barcelona. Apparently the latest trick of some of our Eastern European friends and Spain has quite a few, is to wave you down and tell you that you have a puncture. When you stop to look, one keeps you talking while his mate sticks a knife into your tyre on the other side of the vehicle and then when you start to change your tyre one nips into you car and takes whatever he can find. This is exactly what happened to Gren. His bag containing his mobile phone, his E111, £900 in sterling and Euros, his passport and driving licence and worst of all his supply of insulin and needles. They drove away with the boot lid open so that he could not see the car registration number and of course he couldn't follow them having a flat tyre and a large trailer attached to his vehicle. .He reported his loss to the police of course and they recorded the details as a theft through carelessness. Oh, by the way, my brother in law had not taken out any travel insurance. He also managed, in spite of speaking no Spanish, to arrange for the police to contact the Embassy in Barcelona and to make a phone call to my sister to advise her of the situation and give her the telephone number of the Police Station and the Embassy. Later he realized that he needed an insulin injection and the police contacted the Embassy and they in turn organized an ambulance to take him to the hospital, so far so good. However the hospital were not prepared to give him an injection but offered him a prescription, which of course was no us whatsoever as he had no money. Eventually he did manage to persuade them to give him a rapid jab, which lasted him for about 6 hours and they left him then to his own devices to find his way back to his car and trailer. ....................................Makes you think - doesn't it...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 What a terrible, frightening thing to happen!! How could the hospital possibly treat (or not treat in this case) someone in that way?It certainly makes me think twice about driving over there. I think we'll just stick to local transport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 We are happy to stick to the UK these days. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 From reading travel mags, I understand the "flat tyre" trick is common in Spain, but the whole thing was exacerbated by the diabetes problem of course.The answer can't be to keep off the roads though.Thos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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