Trevor McDonald show.

[Brian]

Investigative journalism at its worse and the thing is people back in the Uk think crime here is rife. Simply message it isn't, the streets are safer here than the majority of towns in the UK. How many ladies would walk the streets of a uk town late at night, or even early hours of morning.? Here it is common practice. Burglaries are so common place in Uk they are no longer news. Yes even burglaries where occupants are asleep in their beds at night. Street muggins and stabbings in the uk are two a penny and reports do not even make the news (unless injuries are life threatening). One person interviewed stated the " police did not attend the scene and the crime goes unresolved"..... does that sound similar to people living in UK.? Theft of motor cars, many found later burnt out are so common place they are not even worth mentioning , as is the case with damage caused to parked cars. (in uk). Anti social behaviour is so bad residents turn their back on it for fear of reprisals, the police have their hands tied and the courts do not, arguably inflict sentances which are a deterant to the other yobs.

I have only lived here for 3 years and my recollections of the UK remain with me. I have absolutely no regret in moving here to Torrevieja with my family and we all feel far safer here than back in good old blighty.

[Ashley]

Crime on Costas

Good to hear the programme was not all true.
Admit it left me wishing we had not started paying for an off plan property on the outskirts of Torrevieja. It was the urbanisations that it stressed where the Brits are targeted not the streets. This was why I have been trying to find out for ages who are buying on the same site that we are. If it is more Spanish or a good mix maybe that is safer than an all Brit development. Answers are not forthcoming once the money is handed over and repeated questions remain ignored so Forums and TV shows are our only source of information.

[Yorkie]

Trevor MacDonald Programme

Yes I must admit I felt a bit frightened after watching the Programme about Torrevieja. We have had our holiday home in Quesada for 3 years and we have never felt threatened, although we do take the usual precautions we would here in the UK eg. Do not carry loads of money, do not carry my purse on display, locking windows and doors when we go out or are sunbathing on the roof terrace - all common sense things really.




After the programme had finished my husband picked the local evening paper up and in the space of about 10 minutes had read out to me about 5 incidents of burglary, muggings and stabbings, and that was just locally in one paper!!
Only last week it was in our local paper that a 105 year old woman had been burgled whilst she was in bed asleep, what sort of people would do that?

Makes me wonder what sort of people are walking our streets.


I know some people on this Forum live in sleepy little villages where there is not much crime, but believe me the ones who live in the major cities and towns are well aware that Crime is rife here in the UK and getting worse.

Like Steve has said in his posting we must help ourselves not to become victims of Crime.

[Debbie4121]

I think all this needs to be put into perspective. What we all need to remember is that the TV programme's researcher's have probably spent the last 6 months searching out the worst stories they could possibly find, otherwise it wouldn't make for good TV. Half a dozen stories on how I left my windows open and got burgled, or someone pinched my handbag because I put it down somewhere and walked off would hardly be entertaining TV.

As long as we are all being sensible - you wouldn't leave your windows/doors open in the UK when you went out, so why would you do it here - we should all be OK. Yes, I have been burgled, so am a lot more vigilant now, but you can't let it rule your life!

[Reece]

I agree that this programme was a bit on the sensationalist side. Crimes against the person and property are a feature of life no matter where you live. What surprised me was the number of people who saw the programme and were shocked by the 'level' of crime portrayed. Found it difficult to explain to them that I felt more vunerable in Dublin than in Torre.

Was in Amsterdam visiting family last week and every shop carried warnings about crime and advice on how to avoid becoming a victim. The basic message was to take sensible precautions!

Because of family commitments it's been some months since I was in Spain and I do miss it! Most of all the blue, blue sky and warm evenings. Unfortunately, sometimes good news is bad news - from a journalist's viewpoint - the 'Tonight' report is, in my opinion, a case in point. It should not deter people who plan well and make the move with their eyes open.

I know, the community we 'live' in is a mixture of nationalities, some permanent, some frequent visitors, both young and old - we know where support is available and who is 'in' or 'out' of the urbanisation. It does take time to build this type of 'security' in any collection of dwellings but once established, its a great 'comfort zone'.