Well after a long and uneventful drive back from the UK earlier today,yours truly got pulled over by the police just short of the services at Hospitalet.Except they weren't the police.2 dodgy looking Paki's (sorry,Political Correctness goes out of the window on this one) and an even worse looking Green Citroen Xantia.A rather flimsy ID card was waved at me and I was pointed to pull over into the services.To cut a long story short,they had no other forms of ID and started getting a bit stroppy when I insisted.They didn't get anything even after asking me to accompany them to a police station 2 hrs away,Yeah right.....
I agreed however to follow them,they then drove off,presumably to 'deal with me' somewhere else.I parked the car in the service area and reported them to the Mossos.
I asked the police when they arrived, if the have any unmarked cars,just in case,they said No and all coppers have uniforms.So be careful,they spoke good english but asked some pretty daft questions about credit cards,cash and passport.My car was English plated and had a GB sticker on.A veritable beacon to some chancer......

:o :o :o :o  You can never be to carefull. You handled it very well.  :o :o :o :o

Did you get the car number? If so please post it & I'll keep it in the car.

Pete.

Hospitalet Services seems to be a magnet for the distraction scammers, if they are not pretending to be police they are asking for directions, or some ludicrous reason to get you distracted and then rob the contents of your car, and they usualy pick a foreign number plate.

Thanks for posting Notrob, I am sure we will all be on our guard in the future

A gang of 19 believed to be responsible for stealing up to 150 top range cars in Cataluña and Valencia have been arrested in a joint operation by the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Civil Guard. The gang, most of whom are from Algeria, is also charged with stealing from tourists at motorway rest stops on the AP-7 between Girona and Alicante.

The vehicles stolen were brand new and are reported to have been stolen from ports in the two regions before they were registered. Officers have recovered 42 cars, together with weapons and ammunition and 16,000 € in cash. Other items recovered include stolen credit cards, mobile phones, passports and other documentation, and a number of laptop computers. The investigation began in November, and was conducted with the cooperation of police in France and Morocco, EFE reports.

Pete,
I only got what I thought was 1 letter and 5 numbers.The police have this info but I couldn't be sure.They drove off sharpish when I picked my phone up,I didn't even see them leave.
The green Xantia was believed stolen anyway so that we be dumped by now probably.

A bit like the new rules that you have to register your mobile phone with your address and NIE Number, with the excuse that they will be able to respond quicker in an incident!!

Hello!! its a mobile phone and may not be at the address you registered it to, in fact probably not!!

The real reason is that it was a mobile phone that triggered the Madrid Train bombings and they want to trace all mobile ownership!!

But this has a simple flaw, if you are a terrorist you are hardly likely to buy a phone and use it on a bombing, you will nick a phone and get it unlocked.

Governments are very simplistic in their reactions, they need Criminals to tell them how the criminal mind works

Hi Nobrot

These sound like the same berks who tried to pull me over on June the 6th.I was on the A7 and took the road under the flyover on the way to the airport .The one stood in the middle of the road stopped me and actually managed to open the passenger door.I just hit the peddle and off.I was going to meet my ladyship from reus.The prospect of keeping her waiting far outweighed any thing those numbnuts had in store for me.

       TRUST NO ONE

regards Folly