Ask Honest John

Honest John Ask Honest John » The strain in Spain
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

The strain in Spain

On a recent touring holiday in Spain I parked my car on a Saturday afternoon in a street near a prominent landmark in Lleida. On returning about half an hour later the nearside front door window had been smashed and the car alarm was sounding. Nothing had been taken. The street was quiet but there were people and vehicles occasionally passing by. When returning to the UK on the car ferry two days later a steward on the car deck told me that I was the third case of a smashed window that he had seen in a week. I thought you might like to warn your readers of this possibility when visiting Spain.

Asked on 30 January 2010 by T.S., Derby

Answered by Honest John
Nothing new, anywhere in Europe. Nor has it been new for the past 20 years. The standard method in Amsterdam in 1992 was to jab a large screwdriver into the window rubber, pull it back, then use the spring effect to shatter the window. I've seen smack-heads with sacks full of radios, radar detectors and other kit picked up that way. They have to fill a sack to get their gear. Your guy was probably disturbed before he could get the radio out. On some makes (VWs) all they had to do was jab the screwdriver upwards under the doorhandle to get in and steal the radio. That's how mine went.
Similar questions
On Tuesday night my Audi A6 was broken into whilst parked on the street outside my house. I discovered this on Wednesday morning when I went to get into the car and, on pressing my remote's un-locking...
Whilst returning from our holiday and driving to Calais, we noticed that a car with just one headlight working had been following us for about 60 miles. For the next 20 miles or so, it started to tailgate....
We have a resident in our road who has 'stuck' leaves over her number plate to avoid detection from the ULEZ cameras. Her son is a serving police officer so we are reluctant to email/phone our local station...