safety alone

[lord warden]

We have an apartment in Torre centre. I have an extra week off work and was going to Torre for 5 days on my own. My family don't thiink I would be safe. Whats your opinion (im female) im starting to doubt now

[Lithgy]

Hi,
You are as safe in Torrevieja as you would be at home - just employ the same safety precautions you would at home.
Enjoy.

[Scorpio]

Hi,
You are as safe in Torrevieja as you would be at home - just employ the same safety precautions you would at home.
Enjoy.

Except of course, don't forget to close your shutters, lock your windows and window grilles, double lock your door, close and lock your door grilles, set your alarm, leave a TV or radio on, do not sleep with the window open, don't go out with a handbag, make sure you're not followed, keep looking over your shoulder, if anyone approaches you be on your guard, if your tyre is flat when you come out of the supermarket be on guard, don't carry any valuables with you. etc etc etc.

Just like home ain't it. ummm no.

[Dingle]

Just like Home

I think the last contribution has got it all wrong. I have been holidaying and having purchased a property here in Spain for a number of years and have never seen or experienced any form of bad experience. If you go out at home you would lock the doors etc.

So enjoy the sunshine and experience why we have all decided to make either our holiday or permanent homes here in sunny Spain.

[costaconvert]

Re: Just like Home

I think the last contribution has got it all wrong. I have been holidaying and having purchased a property here in Spain for a number of years and have never seen or experienced any form of bad experience. If you go out at home you would lock the doors etc.

etc. Please define? I have no shutters or grilles on my house in England, I am not a prisoner in my own home in England. I am not affraid to carry my handbag in public. If I need to go into town to get any cash out I am not paranoid that I am going to be robbed at any moment.

I'm with you Scorpio!!!!!!!!!!

[help needed]

Poor Scorpio, sounds like she/he's had a bad time in Torre, no mention of a UK address so not sure if she/he is a permanent residence in Torre, I can only imagine that his other residence is heaven where the sun always shines and everyone loves each other....... yeah right!

I say that as long as you exercise the same caution that you do at home your week away will be a great break in the sunshine.....sounds idyllic to me!!

[tumbleweed]

I have been fortunate in not being a crime victim in UK or Spain but I feel that some people are remembering the UK thro 'rose coloured' spectacles! In the UK I always lock my doors when I go out, I even lock myself in when I'm at home. Ok, we don't have grilles on our homes here in UK but depending on where you live and the contents of your property some people have alarms and/or guard dogs. In both UK and Spain I go out with my keys, phone and limited money either in trouser pockets or a bag across my shoulder which I am constantly checking. I would never go to bed with ground floor windows open in either country and in both places I sleep with the bedroom window open. I feel it is a sign of the times that life in general is not so safe, but lets not give in to crime, I'm definitely spending all my spare holiday in Spain and yes I am female, and yes I do come out alone.

[Scorpio]

Of course it is possible to have a trouble free time when visiting Torrevieja, it was just this "You are as safe in Torrevieja as you would be at home" nonsense that i find annoying. It just isn't true and is frankly irresponsible, if you take extra care then you should be OK but don't be as complacent as you might be at home otherwise you may regret it.

Have a safe trip.

tumbleweed, what part of Devon do you live in? sounds different to the Devon I live in now. Hang on it must be Plymouth.

Costaconvert lookslike you better change your name!

[Dingle]

I agree with you costa convert why are you here in Spain if all you have to say is bad. I love it in Spain the locals and the expats are great everyone is friendly and the sun shines 300 + days a year bliss !!!!!!!!!!!!

[costaconvert]

I agree with you costa convert why are you here in Spain if all you have to say is bad. I love it in Spain the locals and the expats are great everyone is friendly and the sun shines 300 + days a year bliss !!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't live in Spain anymore I woke up and realised that in 42 years in England I have never been robbed and I have lived in London and the south east all my life. 3 months of living in Spain and I was robbed on my way to the airport stopped to collect son from school en route and had handbag stolen with passports, credit cards, money, house keys, car keys and mobile phones. The b......s must have thought they struck gold when they picked on me!

The expats in Spain are not nice most (not all before the soap box brigade start moaning) are there because they are either avoiding debts or the csa in England, there kids are unruly and rude they are not your better class of brit i'm affraid. You can hear most of them before you see them and you know they are brits because of the foul language that falls from there mouths like dribble. Then you get the retired ones who think life owes them a favour, they have no inclination to speak Spanish so why go to Spain.

So I have a hoouse in Spain my holiday house now, i speak Spanish my son speaks spanish but live in that place again no way. My Spanish neighbours who are origionally from Madrid and Valencia both say that Spain is the A..h... of Europe... Says it all..

[costaconvert]

Costaconvert lookslike you better change your name!

I have!!

[Lithgy]

There was I thinking that I was being responsible in advising people to employ the same precautions in Spain as they would at home. If costaconvert does not lock up in the UK or take precautions with her valuables then she has been lucky in the UK as all the crimes she has listed happen in the UK also.
I do not live full time in Torrevieja but spend about 3 months a year there but I have lived in several European countries. In all I have behaved the same way as far as security is concerned and without any problems. Perhaps I am unusually lucky or maybe just not unlucky. As for expats - all those that I am in contact with do not fit the profile given by Costaconvert in the slightest again, perhaps good fortune.
I have enjoyed my 5 years in Torrevieja and hope to spend many more in the town and like Tumbleweed I will continue to employ basic precautions as I would anywhere in the world. I am sorry Costaconvert has had such a bad experience but I do not think that her experience is the norm.

[simmy]

I notice Scorpio lives in Devon not exactually the crime capital of the UK. If he was to visit some of the areas of the big cities in the UK such as Moss side in Manchester, almost anywhere in Liverpool or some of the South London Estates where you stop your car or walk at your peril he would soon change his mind. I have been here 4 years and never experienced any trouble nor have any of my friends. Only this week parents in the UK were being advised not to let their children under 14 play out alone!!

[guerrero]

I lived in a place called Saltdean in a nice part of Brighton for 17 years before moving here four years ago.Most of my neighbours in Saltdean had been burgled at least once.Vandalism was on the increase and i discovered that I had been living opposite a paedophile for 17 years.Not good with eight year old twins.I worked in probation and saw the dregs that passed through our doors day after day only to be slapped on the wrist and let loose on society again.My car was written off by an uninsured driver with no license who had stolen the car he was driving.He was let off.I had to pay.Drugs were rife in Brighton and serious violence commenplace.I have friends in the police who say it's much worse now four years down the road.we as a family decided to move to Orihuela Costa.We absolutely love it.I have a good job.My children play outside freely and we visit the beach(never did it in Brighton)regularly.my children are fluent in Spanish and have many Spanish,German,Norweigian,Swedish,Morroccan and yes British friends.We don't do the Brit Bar circuit,because it doesn't suit us.We prefer Spanish haunts,where we are always welcomed.I've learned the language to a reasonable level and would be confident of holding my own in any Spanish crowd.We sit all day with our doors and windows open.We lock up at night of course.We'd be mad not to.
If you are out at 3pm staggering along the road drunk swinging your handbag around.Yes you are likely to lose it.You probably won't get a good kicking for the fun of it like you would in the UK.If you go to Spanish bars,you won't get glassed for "looking at someone funny".Many Brits who come here expect too much.They think ten grand will last a lifetime then sit on their arses for six months drinking and smoking and wonder where the money has gone.Whinging as they kill themselves.Many can't survive without the "social".As that is the safety net they've always had.If I don't work.I don't eat,and neither does my family.Exactly how it should be.I've got some news.Get back to the UK quickly if that's what you want,as the immigrants there are bleeding the system dry,and the days of something for nothing are nearing an end.Death taxes are going to rob your kids of any inheritance,if the paedos or the terrorists don't get them first.Spains not perfect.Nowhere is,but It's a damn sight better than the UK.Ask yourselves why you left.Have things improved?No they've got worse.In the time I've been here things have improved no end.A fantastic hospital and health centre.Great shopping and restaurants.Schools developing and being built.A terriffic motorway system,easily accessible and uncluttered.Maybe we've been lucky.We live on a friendly multi racial urbanisation with few problems.We all look out for each other and it works well.It seems that the urbanisations with the biggest problems are the ones full of Brits.Who can't get on with each other.As I say nowheres perfect,but if you use common sense and don't invite trouble it's not a bad place to live here on the Costas.Not bad weather either.Peace and love to you all.

[WendyH]

I am a pensioner and I live alone in a house here. Before I lived here, I had an apartment and holidayed there on my own. I love it here. I was burgled in England so if it happens to me here then so be it. I'd rather it didn't happen but since all my sentimental bits have already been nicked it won't be the end of the world. At least in Spain I'm allowed to defend myself, should it be necessary!! Some years ago I had my purse stolen from my handbag in New York - now I'm extra careful with it. I walk my dogs in the natural park surrounding the La Mata lake and feel perfectly safe (and my dogs are tiny so they offer no protection). In the UK I wouldn't walk my dogs round the fields after school finished for the day because I felt intimidated by all the louts hanging around drinking and smoking.

I don't carry my passport with me. I have a notarised copy which is safer and equally acceptable. I don't carry large sums of cash around either. I do, however, carry my mobile phone and have all my keys (house and car) on one keyring - but my home address is NOT stored with them. Also, I never leave any English papers etc on the seats in my car as I try not to advertise the fact that it's owned by a non-Spanish person.

Maybe one day I'll be mugged, robbed, burgled or some other horrible thing will happen to me and then I'll change my tune - but until then I can honestly say I feel safer here than in the UK and far, far happier.