Northport Quay

[Galteemore]

What a horrible experience for you both! Hope you can get everything straightened out and find some energy for making things soon. Sorry not to see you at Tonbridge today - here’s to the next time….

[leslie10646]

Unhappily, after 25 years as a tour manager, I can relate to your unhappy experience a hundred-fold.

You've given people a good list of how to protect yourself, so I encourage people to have a look at it - it's almost identical to the advice which I gave people - especially the one about dividing things up around your body. I still made visits to consulates, just as you had to do!

That is why I have spent a fortune over twenty years on Rohan clothes which have zippy pockets - I can't praise "Cargo" trousers enough - again lot of zippy pockets.

I carry my passport and credit card in a chest pocket in my shirts - if the shirt hasn't got such - I don't buy it for travelling!

David, I hope that your Travel Insurance coughs up - if they don't tell us who they are so that we can avoid them - as well as Canardian pickpockets.

 

[Colonel]

Thanks Leslie and everyone. Interesting to read of your solutions, though zips let us down in this case. My wife has always used a small rucksack, with lots of zips, including ones on inside compartments and the passport/wallet was very much at the bottom, but they still got it. It wasn't a particularly crowded area either, otherwise it would have been across her chest, not her back.

 When it is warm and sunny and you are not wearing many layers, it is harder to find places to stash things, but one of those body belt wallets is now on the list.

 Nobody gets to be a head teacher, without having at least a small control freak inside them and nine has been looming large the last few days.

 Nil bastardo caborundum, as the saying goes!

[Signal Post]

Sorry to hear of your troubles David. @leslie10646's advice brought to mind the tale of a late friend of my father's (and myself). Said gentleman was visiting a city well known for the activities of it's pickpockets, he in common with many gentlemen of his era would have been in the habit of keeping his wallet in the back pocket of his trousers, however on this occasion he decided to employ diversionary tactics to reduce the risk of him being "out of pocket". His plan involved the use of a dummy wallet, fashioned from significant amounts of toilet paper and inserted in the approved position in his trousers whilst his real wallet was concealed elsewhere. Imagine his delight and the dismay of the errant pickpocket when he felt movement of his "wallet" and was able to intercept the criminal and prevent the loss of his cherished toilet paper!

[jhb171achill]

Awful experiences..... yes, preliminary thoughts on concealment always essential... I had a tourist once on a private tour and he lost his passport the day before he was flying home. MAJOR hassle, especally for an American passport (and that was long before the current dysfunctional administration!).

[Horsetan]

3 hours ago, Signal Post said:

... Said gentleman was visiting a city well known for the activities of it's pickpockets...

This wouldn't be Rome, would it? We had a bag taken from under our nose in 2014, near the Spanish Steps....

[Signal Post]

1 hour ago, Horsetan said:

This wouldn't be Rome, would it?

You got it in one!

[Broadstone]

So sorry to hear about this Colonel, shocking! And thanks all for the great advice, we can all never be too careful.

[Horsetan]

3 hours ago, Signal Post said:

You got it in one!

I thought it sounded familiar. When I was there, I didn't actually carry a wallet. I kept some cash hidden in one of my socks....

[Mayner]

Hopefully you'll find time to get back to modelling soon.

We had a right scare about 20 years ago when wife Linda's bag with our passports were stolen in a cafe in Sydney while having breakfast, followed by the drama of trying to obtain emergency passports. Luckily an honest person found the bag with our passports (less any cash) dumped behind a low wall in a public park and managed to contact us luckily the thief had not swiped our phones or cards, was quite a day. 

 

[Patrick Davey]

Awful to read this David - hope it all gets fully sorted very soon.  Regards to Mrs. H. as well.

[Georgeconna]

15 hours ago, Signal Post said:

You got it in one!

just look at the you tube videos highlighting this carry on around European cites. Underlying common denominator. I am flabbergasted the authorities and residents put up with this nonsense but hopefully there seems to be some pushback now. Apparently the ladies even pretend to be pregnant so the cops wont touch them. 

[DJ Dangerous]

On 20/2/2026 at 7:52 AM, Colonel said:

Tonbridge Show Saturday

 Unfortunately, I've had to withdraw from the Tonbridge show on Saturday. My wife and I had been having a lovely holiday in Gran Carnaria, when on Saturday her passport and wallet were stolen from her bag - the day before we were due to return home and we only made it back last night.

 Never had anything like this happen before, but the consequences were significant. It took until Wednesday to get an emergency passport so we could travel home, while the insurance claim will run well into four figures.

 The lessons are simple. ALWAYS leave your passport in the hotel safe. Credit cards can be cancelled - though again, split them and any cash up, so you always have back up. Maybe worth paying separate insurance on your airport car parking too. Stansted charged me £268 for the extra four days!

 At least Gran Canaria was warm, sunny and indeed beautiful, though the 20c difference in temperature back home was a bit of a shock, especially as the central heating hadn't kicked in...

 In the end, you can only try to learn from the experience, because it was nothing compared to what Noel has been through and indeed any amount of human suffering around the world.

 

Sorry to hear this, @David Holman.

Living and working en Canarias for many years now, and this sort of thing is neither new nor rare.

Without typecasting a whole nationality, here en Canarias, it’s usually carried out by Italians.

Usually three working together; a distraction, a lookout and the actual pickpocket.

Italian criminals are embedded in the underbelly here like ticks, from organised crime to petty crime, and everywhere in between.

A brief search online in Spanish will return a lot of results on the bigger raids on the mafia guys.

The emergency travel documents are a pain in the arse. Have had to help people get them before and it’s literally a day’s work to make a denuncia at the police station and then go get the emergency travel documents.

The advice from others is great; if your room has a safe, use it. If it costs €30 or whatever, it’s worth it.

Just make sure that the safe is secure! Have met people who’ve had their safe stolen as it was only fitted to a wooden shelf etc.

Spread your stuff around, if you must bring it with you. The more pockets, the better.

I stick non-slip tape to everything, to make it even harder to get it out of the pocket. I used to buy little packs of Velcro strips but they started annoying me, so I moved to non-slip tape instead.

Like this:

 

 

Edited February 24 by DJ Dangerous
Edit: spelling