A police state?

[julian]

good job they don´t have electric chairs here then frog !!

[hillybilly]

I spoke too soon.
The exact same Guardia road block (they must be following me) was set up on the Estepa-Puente Genil carretera on Weds morning lol.
They got me this time.
All documents had to be produced to a female (makes a change) Guardia officer whilst another one knocked on the passenger side window, asked me to unlock the door and proceeded to root through the inches high debris in the footwell. On seeing the 4 packets of cigs I had on the passenger seat (stocked up for Easter, you see) he asks me if I smoke then he asks if I smoke maria to which I of course say no, at which point he decides to look in every empty cig packet there was on the floor (a lot!) to verify my answer. The first officer is asking me where I live, where I'm going, how long I've lived in Spain etc...so I'm having to carry on a 2 way conversation, both sides of the van. The bloke tells me the inside of my van resembles a farmacia (! I could think of more apt descriptions), laughs heartily, my docs are all in order surprise surprise and I'm allowed to leave.
Til the next time...coming soon to a roadblock near you...
p.s. docs in order this time included having a UK driving licence (I only showed them the plastic card, they didn't ask for the paper bit) which I have never bothered to register anywhere. Although...I have been stopped before (several times!) and been ticked off for this grievous omission on my part

[Beachcomber]

I remember being stopped once on an isolated coastal road between El Ejido and Adra in my extremely ancient right hand drive but Spanish registered (recently imported) Citroen Dyane with a bootload of swimming pool chemicals. They assumed these to be drugs of some kind and one of them employed the age old method of testing by wetting his finger, dipping his finger into a bucket of chlorine and putting it into his mouth.

The resultant expression on his face was one that I shall cherish to this day but, being unable to suppress a snigger, I nearly ended up being arrested.

[hillybilly]

Yeah well, I was waiting for them to go through the back of the van...it contained a right assortment of stuff...a replacement kitchen unit (should have been two but that's a long story) from the Leroy Merlin trip of the day before when I slipped thru the net, many containers of water, boxes of slate tiles, bags of clothes, boxes of food and alcohol for my sojourn in the campo, light fittings, petrol for the genny...and an impatient Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Wonder why they didn't search it...

[Jool]

They did confiscate english plated cars over here a few months ago and there are now less of them but people do not seem to understand that their insurance is invalid if it has exceeded its time in Spain and many vehicles were around for years.....but they could make a lot more money doing that.....

[spanish_lad]

Wonder why they didn't search it...

boobies. end of story.

[frog]

They did confiscate english plated cars over here a few months ago and there are now less of them but people do not seem to understand that their insurance is invalid if it has exceeded its time in Spain and many vehicles were around for years.....but they could make a lot more money doing that.....

never heard of that happening(confiscate),known a lot of ex pats over the years.

think the ex-pats have just gone back

they should tho,mostly scumbags

[oliveview01]

I´ve just got home from a Malaga airport run- I parked in the first carpark ( I was late and needed to get very close to the departures ) There were quite a few German plated cars there- I wonder if they were illegal? We all assume the Brit cars are illegal- but what about the other foreign plated cars I wonder?

[Mowser]

I think there should be a European standard for registration of cars. The UK has the tax disc on the windscreen yet Spain has the ITV. A couple of ex-pats near here simply removed their British tax disc when it was out of date. To all intents and purposes, it looks legal. That is to say, it looks like a car still waiting for it first ITV.

[spanish_lad]

personally .. i think a europe wide "windscreen sticker" .. would suffice, but a europe wide database would be better - with every car registered then they couldn´t get away with it.

[katy]

I´ve just got home from a Malaga airport run- I parked in the first carpark ( I was late and needed to get very close to the departures ) There were quite a few German plated cars there- I wonder if they were illegal? We all assume the Brit cars are illegal- but what about the other foreign plated cars I wonder?

Lots of german cars on the coast, they aren't legal either. Wonder if the german forums have people on complaining about their fellow compatriots Then there are Swedish and Dutch too. Maybe it hurts less if a German uninsured car runs into you

[frank]

According to Sur, Malaga province needs another 600 police officers, (the police say 1,000) so if you get those, you might see even more of them. Crime definitely seems to be on the increase, I guess the credit crunch won't have helped there. I was reading about lots of elderly people shoplifting in Madrid, and even swapping labels from expensive products to cheaper products!
Recent surveys reveal that six out of every ten Malaga residents have been affected by crime in the last year and that the fear of robbery and street crime has increased. The police figures show a 30 per cent increase in arrests in the first two months of this year.

[katy]

Yes, I hear of a lot of crimes now where before I hardly heard of any. Have noticed an increase in Security Guards in the shops too. A Spanish guy who lives in a tent in the campo (and has lived there for at least 15 years) had stuff stolen last week!

[silver]

Yes, I hear of a lot of crimes now where before I hardly heard of any.

Just when was "before".. costa de crime..ring a bell?

[spanish_lad]

wasn´t only called the costa del crime because of all the "big boys" that were holidaying here?

i guess its like back in the 70s uk, you never heard of crime on a daily basis - bag snatching, petty crimes, people being rubbed up for a watch or a phone... these days as soon as it happens its in the papers or online? i guess because today we have better comunication and networks than there used to be, that we hear about alot more things. its like having cnn and nbc channels on the tv, in the 70s we´d never hear of the crimes that happen in america, now they are daily news if you watch those channels

its the same here in spain, back in the 70s news .. i would imagine .. travelled very very slowly, everyone was happy, nobody worried, doors were left open and cars (of what few there were) were left running while you were in the shops. these days, with the internet, the news papers, the constant tv reports, everyone hears about most crimes that happen...

the good old days were good.. because nobody knew about anything. just because it wasn´t reported.. doesn´t mean it didn´t happen.

[hillybilly]

the good old days were good.. because nobody knew about anything. just because it wasn´t reported.. doesn´t mean it didn´t happen.

You say some very sensible things sometimes lol x

[katy]

Yes, good points SL. You are beginning to sound like a 50 year old

Most of the thefts I have heard of recently have not been reported in the media, they are people I know.

The costa del crime image was different, it wasn't one on one crime. Lots of big boys still here, and the russian mafia.

[Mowser]

Perhaps some posters would prefer Britain and get beaten up at the G20.

[frog]

oliveview01 wrote:
I´ve just got home from a Malaga airport run- I parked in the first carpark ( I was late and needed to get very close to the departures ) There were quite a few German plated cars there- I wonder if they were illegal? We all assume the Brit cars are illegal- but what about the other foreign plated cars I wonder?

Lots of german cars on the coast, they aren't legal either. Wonder if the german forums have people on complaining about their fellow compatriots Then there are Swedish and Dutch too. Maybe it hurts less if a German uninsured car runs into you

yeh when i aim at the brits i really mean any illegal car,as i said,not hard to spot,had a "friend" that bought some kind of big 4wd thing from vegas,parked it on fuengirola seafront all the time,i mentioned that the police might notice it,he said "nah they wont know where its from" despite his nevada plates,mind you never had a prob as far as i know

being 2 faced,i just sold a caddy that i had lying around to a finnish guy,that car will never be legal here unless he pays a few quid to sort it,but i get the feeling he wont,nothing wrong with the car but needed itv and to be transfered to his name

not in my name btw just selling for a mate that went the same way as most ex pats do that try to live the dream

[wildside]

Hi all,

There have been more random spot checks around the Grazalema area as well.... I got stopped the other day for document scrutinising and passed the test mostly .... Got accused of not having insurance when I was sure I had given them all the papers... Realised that they (the GC) weren't that tall so i got out of the car and passed the insurance papers from the top of the roof where one of them had reached up and placed them for some strange reason...

I still have my UK driving licence (expires in 2 years) which wasn't questioned so I thought I would delve into this grey area with them... "Is it obligatory for me to change this to a Spanish licence" I asked... Simultaneous answers of "Yes within three months" and "No not at all it a valid European licence" left them looking at each other in such a way that I thought they were going to have a fight about it... We left it that I would change it when it expires......

Anyway, I've lived up here for years and they know me, what I do for a living and even that I grow the best squashes in the valley... I say hi to them in the village and we wave when we pass on the road so why do I feel so guilty when they stop me like twice in 4 years? It a knee jerk reaction to authority I guess..

Andalucia a Police state? Not yet I don't think. Other regions of Spain are much tougher... Cataluña for example....