British Consulate Roadshow in Torrevieja

With almost 13,000 British residents on the padron, Torrevieja has the largest number of expatriates than any other city in the Alicante region and one of the largest in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona.

  On Thursday evening at the Centro Cultural Virgen del Carmen the British Consulate in Alicante and his team of pensions, benefits and health held their first roadshow aimed at the British community in the Torrevieja area to try answer questions primarily about health services. Along with British Consul Paul Rodwell and his team, Torrevieja’s Deputy Mayor Joaquín Albaladejo attended the event along with Alicante province’s Tourism delegate Mercedes Alonso plus various local Associations and groups.

The foyer area was filled with tables from the areas self help and charity groups including Age Concert, Red Cross, Caritas, MABS, AFA, HAH, Samaritans, University of the Third Age, British Legion and others, as well as health information and officials. It is not the first time the consulate has organized an event of this kind in Torrevieja, as in the past they have held meetings to inform the public services in this area can be arranged in Torrevieja and others who need the approval of authorities in the UK.

Of major concern to those attending was Social Security and Health Benefits and whether being a Spanish Resident and on the padron was a benefit or a hindrance in regards to the benefits they receive, over carrying a European Health Card and travelling back and forth to the UK for treatments! Paul Rodwell and his British Consulate team gave a short presentation followed by a question and answer section outlining what the Consulate could and could not provide, in terms of services and of surprise to most attendees, is that the team in Alicante are number one or two in the world when in comes to the number of services that they provide to the UK Passport holders, living or visiting Alicante province! With 187,000 on the municipal padron, Alicante is one of the biggest expatriate strongholds in the world!

A short, private meeting was also attended by the consul team along with the participation of Councillors for Foreigners, Rosario Martinez, Welfare, Tomás Ballester, NGOs, Mamem Mateo, Tourism, Luis Maria Pizana and Jose Eduardo Gil Rebollo, Councillor for Security in the city. Mention should also be made of British supermarket Iceland, who partly sponsored the event and provided guests with typical English goodies, such as Foxes Glacier Mints, Curly Whirly, Jaffa Cakes, Crisps, Penguins, which was a fun way to promote their British products and gave the guests as true ‘taste of home!’

Keith Nicol