Be aware whilst driving through Madrid Police impersonators Forums

teemyob

Hello everyone,

Just back from France and Spain for 3 weeks and had a great trip. Whilst driving through Madrid...................

It was 3:10pm Sunday 30th October and the six of us had just had lunch at a very quiet motorway stop inbetween the tolls on the new R4 Radial ring road, having just paid our 5 Euros 30. It was very quiet and it seemed most of the Spanish were having siesta or using the old A4. We had only just paid our second toll of 1 euros 30 and headed into Madrid when I noticed in my passenger side mirror we were being shadowed by a white Chrysler Neon in the middle lane for around 2 miles. Then they accelerated to the side of us, and the passenger a balding Man around 45-50 years old held what was to be a fake Police photo ID to the window and pointed towards the hard shoulder suggesting that we should pull over.
Not being as green as I am cabbage looking I indicated and pulled half way onto the hard shoulder to give the impression I was going to stop. The driver of the Chrysler who's face I did not see was wearing a yellow high vis jacket. He slowed right down and I then immediately accelerated hard into the middle lane. The driver of the car then realised they had been sussed accelerated and shot off left toward Madrid city centre whilst I carried on around Madrid. It all happened so fast the only part of his reg I got was "M" indicating it was the old style Spanish Registration indicating Madrid origin.

From what I can only assume is that they may not have realised our vehicle was right hand drive and whilst initially following us may have assumed that my passenger was driving (male, small build and early twenties) and that as I said when they realised I had no intention of stopping fled rapidly from the scene.

Incident number 2

The Chrysler was nowhere to be seen through Madrid's maze of diverted ring road and by around 3:40 we were heading out of Madrid on the A1 in the direction of Burgos. I then became aware that a Silver Audi A4 was tailing us for a good few miles. I was following one of the few large trucks that were on the road at around 55mph. When the traffic thinned to just our 3 vehicles, the driver of the Audi switched on some blue flashing
lights that were hidden behind his radiator grill. I continued driving and he then straddled both of the lanes and he started to flash his lights for me to pull over, still I continued but this time I indicated and pulled into the outside lane and overtook the truck in front of us. The Audi did not follow, he turned off all his lights and left the motorway.!

Well we had intended to wildcamp somewhere before heading for the ferry at Bilbao the next day. However, this made me and my wife a bit uneasy so we ended up staying at a really nice all year campsite that I can highly recommend; COSTAJAN ARANDA DE DUERO

neverrememberit

Well emailing the text is the best you can do. I'm interested to know why you didn't "fall" for the scam. I speak Spanish, though it's a long time since I lived there, (the Dictator still lived then), and I think if I thought I was being flagged I probably would stop. I don't think I could tell a good badge from a bad badge in a moving vehicle.

Had they been genuine would you not have been in deep doo-dah?

geraldandannie · Moderator

I've heard of this before. In contrast to certain other 'warnings to foreign tourists', this has hard, personal evidence from a number of people.

I like to think I'd do the same, unless the vehicle was a marked police car. Well done, Trev.

Gerald

teemyob

LPDrifter

Thanks for sharing the experience. I read a letter in one of the magazines of a very similar occurence to another British couple. This time in Italy and the couple were in robbed of money.

As I plan to tour extensively on the continent it is a subject I am interested in. I like to think I would have acted in the same way as you did.. ie trust your instincts and keep going.

I think I would, if I did not see the individuals driving a clearly marked police car. This might get me in trouble if it really were the police driving in an unmarked car, but I think I would rather risk pleading with the law than pleading with a road pirate/gangster.

It would be really helpful to find out if someone was in fact stopped by a genuine unmarked police car, and if there are any guidelines to identify the real thing from the fake....other than go on your gut instincts.

Cheers

jhon

We've travelled through Spain a couple of times over the winter period and certainly enjoyed our time there. Problem is we have never felt completely at ease.
My wife is part Spanish and both of us speak the lingo fluently but my accent is a bit off !

We met a couple who were drugged, or gassed, at a motorway cafe area and robbed of all their jewellery and travel money. The Guardia report, which we interpreted for them, indicated that they had been drugged in or outside the cafe, possibly in their motorhome. The report was a bit vague however the couple told us the Guardia were very helpful and indicated such attacks in the Barcelona area were not unusual.

We sometimes watch the Spanish news at home via SKY. There was a recent report which stated that there was a significant increase in the rate of crime against foreign owned property and campervans.
You obviously did the right thing. Amazes me why people would choose to wildcamp in Spain.

Whilst travelling through France last year we were also flashed by a vehicle behind us. The driver pulled alongside us and started pointing downwards towards the tyres. Everything felt normal inside the vehicle so we kept going. I think I shouted something at him ! So later on, when the coast was clear we pulled over. I checked the vehicle at the front and all was ok. At the back, on the bike rack, my wife's bra, underwear, socks and a towel were still attached to the frame and surprisingly completely dry. I lost a pair of underwear but we didn't go back and have a look.

gaspode · Moderator

Boff

Hi,

one hint from the German automobile association is: If you are in such a situation, ask one of your passengers to take photos of the "police car", or at least pretend to make a call on the mobile phone. If they then speed off, you know for sure that they were fake. And giving the photos later to the real police might help them getting control over this pest.

Once when we had just crossed the French border coming from Germany we had this: We were driving on a minor road. 3 cars stood on the kerb some 100 metres in front of us, 2 of them had their bonnet open. Several men stood around and one of them was trying to flag down other drivers. There was one car in front of us, which almost came to a stop, but then accelerated very hard again. That made me even more suspicious, so I asked my wife on the passenger seat to pull out her mobile phone and pretend to make a call. She did so, and when the man tried to flag us down he suddenly realized this. Immediately he shouted something to the others, they closed the bonnets, all jumped into the cars and sped away in the opposite direction. I do not really believe that it was the mobile phone's electromagnetic field that made their engines run again... Twisted Evil

I am not fully sure about Spain, but I think the rules for real police work are the same as in e.g. Germany or Netherlands: Using unmarked (or even "disguised") vehicles for traffic observation is quite commonplace, however the officers inside must wear uniform! And these unmarked vehicles are usually packed full with hi-tech, including an LED display in the rear window where they can display written orders or at least a "Kojak-style" magnetic blue flashlight that they put on the roof.

Of course, all these things, even the uniforms, could be faked, but showing an "ID card" out of the window while driving is absolutely unprofessional behaviour and a quite strong indication that something is very dodgy.

Best Regards,
Gerhard