HIGHWAY robbers in ESPANIA. a few words of warning

Hi all, driving in Spain with french reg car… Well, , we were driving on AP7 towards Tarragona when we were flashed by car behind, so we pulled over, the driver pulled in, in front said that he saw some pieces fall off the wheel section of our car, so we both got out and he showed us the area he thought it came from, he kept us busy at the back of the car… meanwhile un beknown to us, his companion opened the driver side back door, and removed my handbag and OH briefcase which were under a coat on the back seat. we had no idea this had happened, it was only when we stopped for a break, that my OH mobile came into life, a call from an unknown gent in Paris, saying he had been ctcd by a friend , to say that she had found a hand bag, took it home and opened it to see if there was any phone/address/ etc so as to call the bags owner to say she had found it…
At the time of the call from Paris we were near Denia. then Parisian gent spoke french, his friend only spoke Spanish hence why the gent in Paris spoke to us in , the docs that were in my bag were Carte Vitale,D/licence/ health cards/credit cards, CDSejour, Chq book, ukdebit cards etc etc, plus a lot of useful handbag gear. Anyway, no mention of OH brief case, in that we had Mac Lap top, Ipad,Iphone, camera, diary (which had all sorts of passwords/tel numbers and appointments) So we spoke to gent and he sent us on OH iphone the tel number, name address.We rang and said we would phone when we
arrived at hotel, my spanish is passable but not to the extent of being able to copmpletely understand
what she was describing to me!!!so we agreed we will return to pick up my bag from her home after we had reported to it to the police the following day.
Next report the theft, we eventually found the police station, they escorted us to the Guradia Civile, why , in OH brief case were our passports, which according to the local police had to be dealt with by the Guardia, we followed them to the Guardia, I was definently not too sure how we were going to get on here, having heard that the Guardia are not the easiest or helpful and not very popular with the
locals, nerves were a little on edge. NO need, they were very understanding and helpful, thank
goodness. SO duely completed forms in Spanish French and English were completed in duplicate…The
officer even offered to show us the way back to the hotel , which we declined…!! APPARENTLY THIS IS HAPPENING OFTEN, MODERN DAY HIGHWAY MEN!!!according to the Guardia.
Back to our return journey less than 12 hours after checking in to the hotel, we went via the Paris gents friend who found the bag, on the secondary road that runs parallel to the Motorway, in Segur de Calafell, where she lived there was myhand bag Passports,were removed from the brief case and placed in the bag by the Highway men, credit cards, CDsejour,C vitale D/licence and other bits of stuff, the only things missing were my rather expensive prescription sun glasses, iphone, and all the Euros we had taken out the bank the day before. BUT no sign OH brief case, trying to remember what work you had done on the laptop etc bank details etc, plus if we did not have my papers, we worried, imagine trying to get back into France if the police decided to stop us, we had our returned P/ports and I had my all my cards most importantly CDS,CVitale,and D/licence.
That was a trip that went wrong, not through any fault of us, but we were safe, just our nerves and morale are feeling shocked, There are good samaritans out there, both of which we are truly grateful…

The thought of trying to get duplicate CV,CDsejour/Dlicence, is not worth thinking about…
A lesson we will not be repeating —
DRIVING A CAR, WITH FRENCH PLATES, ON A RELATIVELY QUIET SUNDAY ON THE AP7, WITH SOME CAR IN THE REAR VIEW WINDOW, FLASHING HIS LIGHTS, PULLS IN FRONT, BEWARE, LOCK ALL YOUR DOORS IF YOU GET OUT TO SEE WHAT HE IS TRYING TO SAY, DON’T BE FOOLED BY HIS STORY OF SOMETHING FALLING FROM THE CAR…
Home at last, stiff G&T

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Gosh… ghastly experience for you.

Sadly, this sort of thing is happening in several countries. rule of thumb nowadays seems to be to ignore anyone apparrently needing help in the road/at the roadside… ignore anyone flashing their lights etc etc… just get home or to a police station asap.

apart from locking all doors… other suggestions are to take photos through the screen and phone emergency contacts…

A dreadful experience, what reg was the car that flashed you? .

I had my wallet stolen in Valencia about four years ago. No financial loss but the hassle in getting replacement cards was woeful. I carry the minimum on me now, the rest in the car or on my phone. I was also flagged down on the RN7 by scammers about 10 years ago, but I’d been forewarned of the MO and all they got from me was abuse .

HI,
yes, but we were shocked, of all places spain, motorway, mid afternoon on s sunday. lovely weather rotten greeting. It was a black Audi spanish plates. It happened all so quick.
Yes, should have been more ‘on the ball’ so to speak, after all our postings we should have brrn a little less quick in getting out of the car.
Thanks

Yeh, quite agree police station, it was only when we received the phone call from the Gent in Paris who advised that his friend in Spain near Tarragona had found the bag full of french id cards etc, she only speaks spanish , so the brief case and bag had gone, my iphone was in my bag so taking photos or contacting anyone near was impossible. But inretrospect we will do things differently.
Glad to be back home in La Belle france

@cat NEED ONE SAY MORE :wink:

(sorry to laugh about an aspect of your misfortune)

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I’ve heard of similar, in Spainpeople driving along when one of their tyres blew out, a recovery vehicle which just happened to be close behind stopped to help. However these people spoke pretty good Spanish and had a recovery policy
The recovery driver was pretty insistent but because their Spanish was good was eventually convinced to leave .When the genuine recovery turned up he found evidence that the tire had been shot Apparently a vehicle driving in the opposite direction will spot a foreign car,cause damage to the tire The car has to stop and the recovery vehicle comes to the rescue

Lizzie 1,

How awful, were told by the Guardia Civile that this is not unusual, interestingly though, at no time did we see on either side of the APista a police vehicle.
It has certainly put a blot on our venture into buying anywhere along the coastas.
Will just have to rethink our holidays plans…

I am sorry for what happened to you. It’s nasty when you are a victim of crime. We were burgled in our idyllic rural house in France. However, I’m not sure you will be able to live anywhere then. Crime happens all the time, regrettable though it is.

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