A Reader Reports
On a recent trip to France arriving via Barcelona airport we had some of our bags stolen in the hire car compound of the airport.
We had just picked up our keys and while loading the car with our cases etc we were distracted for no longer than 20 seconds. In that time some of our smaller cases included my wife’s handbag were gone.
The car hire company called the police but there was nothing they could do. Not a nice start to a holiday.
Maybe next time we will fly into Perpignan.
The exact same scenario, as you describe, happened to my husband and I, way back in 2000 at the Avis rental. We were returning the car, and my hubby was in the office paying when a young man came up and I thought that he wanted to check the mileage. I was taking luggage from the car, and second later, I looked for my handbag and it was gone along with the man. We were still living in the US. Our passports, credit card, plane tickets [yes, it was before e-tickets], cash, were all taken. It was horrible. The police could have cared less. Avis could have cared less. When we returned after having had to fly to Madrid to obtain new passports and incurred an extra night at a hotel, I wrote a letter to Avis explaining that because he had been talking to their agent when we pulled in, I assumed that he was one of them. Eventually, they reimbursed us for the hotel in Madrid, and the passport fees.
Nothing the police can do or nothing the police will do? The constant petty crime tarnishes plenty of holidays but it does not stop people flooding to this fabulous city and so there seems to be no political will to do anything about it.