Europe Day washout - is this an omen?

González de la Torre
and Mayor raising
European flag

JIMENA Yesterday, May 9, was Europe Day. Jimena prepared for it with a programme of activities designed mainly for kids. Diego González de la Torre, President of Mancomunidad de Municipios del Campo de Gibraltar, and José Antonio Cabrera Mengual, Vice-President, and various other dignitaries turned up in suits and ties in the heat at midday on the square - but no kids, no public. Why? Because there was a strike against education cutbacks (more on that later) and so, very few children anywhere to be seen. Some did turn up by sheer chance and got bagfuls of material about Europe to read, caps, pens and mini torches ... So did Prospero, who could be seen with a brand new bright blue cap.(Apropos  of Europe: What happens to British expats if the UK pulls out of the EU? We will try to find out.)

Reader asks: do we really have to take the baby to the National Police to prove he exists?

(Illustration only)

Maybe one of our readers can answer this question (it's a very long time since Prospero had to deal with live babies): "When we applied for the baby's NIE number at the National Police station in La Línea, we were told that he had to be presented in person. This despite the fact that he has his own British passport and we had gathered all the documents needed to get his NIE. Has anyone been through this lately?" If you have, or know someone who has, please click on the word 'comments' below and tell us about it. We have to admit we were astonished by this one!

British family arrested for stealing diesel fuel

(Photo: Guardia Civil)

MÁLAGA (Agencies) A British family of five were arrested in Málaga recently, accused of stealing 156,700 litres of diesel oil from a Málaga pipeline. The local oil company, CLH reported a substantial drop in pressure from their pipes that supplied the airport, and made a denuncia to the Guardia Civil. The GC immediately launched Operation Rudolf 2011, leading them to a leak in the line, exactly at a place where there was a hut that hid the equipment the gang of expert plumbers used to extract the fuel by puncturing the pipeline. The extracting pipes were traced to a rented property not far away, where they also found a 500-litre capacity van with a hose leading to the supply. They arrested a man who was in charge of the device, and later arrested another four people, who turned out to be members of the same family. The GC press release said that this is the first such case in Andalucía.

Lawyer arrested for fraud on expat property owner aged 90

Vejer de la Frontera
(Photo: vanessainthevines)

VEJER (Agencies) The story begins when a 90 year old woman from Germany inherited some land after the tragic death of her daughter, which she decided to sell. Given her advanced age, she didn't want to travel all the way here, so she contacted a lawyer through a Spanish Consulate in Germany. He was given power of attorney to conduct the transaction. He found buyers and sold the property in her name, telling her that he had sold it for €60,000. Which is the amount that was inscribed in the escrituras (title deeds). Not long after, the woman began getting comments from friends of her daughter in Vejer, saying that they believed the land had been sold for considerably more; that the remainder had been paid 'under the counter' in 'black money', an illegal practice that is commonplace in most of the country. The woman decided to tell the authorities - in Germany.>>>

Fitting memorial to Freddy Field

CASTELLAR At 11 this morning, Rosemary Field handed the Mayor of Castellar, Juan Casanova, an olive tree and a plaque that will be placed at the entrance to the cine theatre in memory of her husband Freddy Field, who died last December. Among many friends and family Freddy was remembered for his love and commitment to Castellar, where he lived for the last five years of his life. An emotional Rosemary said that this had been her husband's wish. Freddy, whose mother was from Jimena and had a British father, was born in La Línea. He lived in Gibraltar for most of his life and died aged 52 on December 5, 2010. He will be remembered by Castellar as>>>someone who first became involved in helping Ian and Victoria Cann to raise money for an X-ray machine for the village health, fund raising in all manner of ways and later via the production of a pantomime. Freddy's involvement with Castellar also included raising funds for repairs to the side door at the Santuario del Santísimo Cristo de la Almoraima, also under the Canns' direction.

Foreigners registered in La Línea are mostly British

(Photo: EuropaSur)

LA LINEA (Agencies)  The number of foreign nationals registered in La Línea has reached 6,858, the majority of whom are British. According to the municipal registry (padrón), the total population is 70,037 (35,052 women, 34,985, men), of which Spanish nationals account for 63,169 (32,050 women, 31,129 men). Foreign residents registered at the Town Hall and in the census, amount to 6,858 (3,856 men, 3,002 women). Of these, British citizens outnumber the rest with a total of 2,391 (1,346 men vs.1,045 women). Next in number of foreigners, but a long way off, are>

Expat hands himself in to RGP, taken to UK for trial

GIBRALTAR (Agencies) An ex-pat living in Spain who handed himself into the Royal Gibraltar Police headquarters last week has now been sent to UK to face drugs smuggling charges. Ian Henry Sumner, 45, a resident of Benahavis, Malaga, handed himself over at Police Headquarters New Mole House claiming that he was wanted in the UK. Enquiries revealed that there was a European Arrest Warrant for Sumner in connection with possession and importation of cannabis into the UK. On Wednesday March 23 Sumner was officially arrested on the European Arrest Warrant that had been received in Gibraltar. He stated that he wanted to return to UK and face the charges. On Thursday March 24 he appeared before the Magistrates Court where he stated that he was not contesting his return to the UK. The Magistrate Charles Pitto then ordered that he should be returned to the UK within a period of ten days. Sumner left Gibraltar under escort of UK police officers last Thursday.

'Brit expats ... settled here illegally ... and want us to solve their problems,' says councillor

ALMERIA/Almanzora (Telegraph) Josefina Cruz, councillor for public works and housing, referred to British expats as 'a group of people who are not of this country, who have settled here illegally in our territory...who are now demanding us to solve a problem that they have been responsible for creating'. She made the comments during a parliamentary debate last month. 12 Britons who own illegally built homes in the Valley and who belong to the organisation Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No (AUAN), campaigning for the legalisation of property in the region, are now collectively suing the councillor for alleged discrimination under Article 510.2 of the Spanish criminal code.>

British couple arrested after domestic violence incident in La Línea

LA LÍNEA (Press release) The National Police attended a domestic violence incident on Calle Balmes after receiving a call that a fight was in progress. Having confirmed the fact with the sound of  fighting and breakage, they proceeded to arrest the couple inside. The man, identified as N.D., 25, and the woman, K.V.C., 21, both of them British, were taken to the Policía Nacional station and charged with various offences. The woman had resisted arrest, hitting one of several policemen attending the fracas, and they both continued with their behaviour at the station, banging fists and heads against walls.

Expat freeloaders in the Spanish health system

(Source: Expatify) British expats living in Spain use their European Health Insurance Card (Ehic) to get free healthcare in Spain—even though the card is designed to be used only for emergency care while tourists holiday in European countries. In Alicante, 15-20% of all hospital admissions are British expats. Some Britons are looking at the Spanish hospitals and the British hospitals and choosing where they think they will receive the best, or quickest treatment and either going back to Britain or turning up at the Spanish hospitals with their Ehic.>

944 Britons arrested on drugs charges

An article in The Gibraltar Chronicle last week reported on a UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office report that said there 944 Brritons arrested on drugs charges from April 2009 to Mach 2010. 'Drugs contributed to more than a third of total arrests of Britons in France and more than a quarter in Ireland, Italy and Thailand,' the article continued, adding: 'Including natural causes, accidents and unlawful killings, there were 5,930 reported deaths of UK citizens abroad in 2009/10. Of these, 1,786 occurred in Spain, which also saw the highest number of arrests and detentions of UK nationals as well as the highest number of cases where Britons needed hospital treatment.' Read the whole article in The Gibraltar Chronicle.

CampoPulse on Expat Blog

You will have noticed a widget (love that word!) on our sidebar: Expat Blog. It is a collection of blogs about expats the world over. CampoPulse is now listed on that site. It is worth a visit to get the answer to numerous questions about your life as an expat, wherever you are. Naturally, we at CampoPulse will still be happy to help any way we can.

British expats ordered to demolish their homes

(Agencies) It has not been a good start to the new year for eight British owners of 'illegal' properties in Albox, Almería. Their Council has notified them of an order to demolish their homes built on non-urbanizable land in this municipality of Almanzora, where there are some 5,000 such illegal construction. The s plan to come out in a demonstration today, as they have done before (photo). The Mayor of Albox, José García (PSOE), says demolition would be 'stupid'. García, who inherited the problem from his predecessor, Francisco Granero (PP), made the decision to notify the orders over the holidays, which has left the proprietors in a state of shock, according to the Abusos Urbanísticos Almanzora No association (Auan) of over 400 British expats affected by the town planning debacle in the area. "One of the couples knew nothing at all about it. Nothing," said its president, Maura Hillen.>

British expats urged not to waste their vote

(The Daily Telegraph) British expats have been urged not to waste their vote in the forthcoming general election in Britain as the two major parties seek to mobilise the large but hitherto latent expatriate population.With the election no more than eight months away, Conservatives Abroad, the international wing of the party, used its annual conference in Majorca to begin a campaign to encourage British expats to sign up to the electoral register. Meanwhile, Labour International intends to contact all of its members by post in the coming weeks in an attempt to convince them to vote.>