spanish motorways

There is an article in today's Daily Mail reporting that the number of theft/muggings from vehicles on the AP7 between Barcelona and Alicante is on the increase.The targets are mainly British reg.cars and tourist rentals using the service areas.I wonder if this is also happening to bikes and their riders.

Holiday cars have always been a target in touristy areas. I've never heard of similar thefts from bikes - I imagine they offer a less tempting target than cars - but I think it would be sensible to take precautions. Remove sat nav, don't leave wallet and passport in the bike, that sort of thing.

I remember hearing this a few years ago at a service stn near Barcelona. A member of the local civil police aproached me as we left the car and told me about this. Apparently a lot of it is down to illegal african immigrants mugging tourists rather than locals as they think that there will be less chance of trouble.

One of the car / bike shipping companies I had talked to said they had three trailers robbed up there. I'm down around Estepona on the A 7 now and lots of thefts from cars in supermarket car parks. 25% unemployment will cause this type of problem.

Approx 60 reported cases of theft in the last 12 months for that stretch of the AP7 according to the press. Hardly a crime wave. Handbags and wallets are the prefered targets. Just be on your guard more so than at home.

spanish motorways
There is an article in today's Daily Mail reporting that the number of theft/muggings from vehicles on the AP7 between Barcelona and Alicante is on the increase.The targets are mainly British reg.cars and tourist rentals using the service areas.I wonder if this is also happening to bikes and their riders.

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Hi Jezz,
You do not have to do anything different as if you were in UK, France, Italy or any other country around. Be vigilant.
AP 7 it's been for ages a difficult place, mainly for cars.
Please check this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEs7_HSIADs
This is called the peruvian method.
The most involved nationalities in this kind of acts are peruvians (most of them on jail now), serbians, albanians, russians and of course spaniards (no info about african immigrants). The problem every summer have are the replicants trying to do the same bad acts.
I have checked with the Guardia Civil and after some calls they told me no motorcycles have been involved this summer, but they told me to be careful as usual.
We do not have information right now about increased numbers of thefts(due to unemployment percentages). I am just back from Turkey and as you can imagine I drove trough Greece where the situation is a little worst than in Spain and the only thing I have found were extremely good people always ready to help.
If you need any information about anything in Spain, please do not hesitate to ask me.
This is not the perfect country but it is as safe as it was ten years ago.

J

I guy I know was pulled over on the motorway in Spain by what he thought was a police car,turns out it wasn't and he had 1000 euros stolen whilst they distracted him.They were clever, he certainly wasn't.Be vigilant and don't stop or leave stuff in your car.It's no different to the Cote d'azur, many hire cars ,especially those near the harbours ,will be broken into as they rekon folk have flown in to be on the boats so there's going to be stuff in the cars to steal. They are usually correct.