Thieves on the beach - Page 2

Thanks for the advise.

It would also be nice if you see something like this happening to alert the person concerned.

I wonder if a locker would be a good idea. You pay for the day and the key is yours. That way you could store your belongings in it without having to worry if someone was going to steal your money, phone, etc. 

of course this would be manned, exactly what you would do if you went to a swimming pool.

You lose the key and you pay a fine to cover the cost of a new one. 

Actually, I agree with you. I wrote that in anger at what has happened to some recent posters-brazen theft, cowardly intimidation, despicable scams-but you're right that Spain is comparatively low on crime.

We keep a cheap bicycle lock (2-3€ In the Chinese store) and lock our bags/purses to a chair. Very hard to run with a chair and purses attached. 

Good idea. 

BUT they carry sharp blades to cut the sides or bottom of bags.  Seconds....

Alicante town beach has introduced lockers.   Only 50 lockers, various sizes but may increase if popular.

 Also inside them are solar power points for your phone!

Agree with your point, they do indeed but the essence of their "job" is speed, anything taking over a few seconds gives them up and they don't want to take the risk (usually).

My advice on this is to never take original documents with you, photocopies better legalised by a notary will do here, always very minimum money and no expensive jewellery which may be lost in the sand or water anyway as happened to us.

If one is using deckchairs or similar, or heavy parasol bases as there are on some paying beaches then a good idea is to get a small metallic safety box, just enough to contain purse, keys, fobs etc, no need for heavy big ones, there are all sizes for sale out there...then Marco's idea comes to good use, a small steel cable passed through box handle inside a bag and through bag handles and secured to something heavy will make them loose too much time to fiddle with and they very likely give up or risk being spotted.

Getting a "screw in the sand" parasol base (with or without parasol) and use it to pass the steel cable though is a valid option too, again they won't like wasting time undoing too many things and be found out.

On other beaches when nothing heavy is available the good old method of asking beach neighbours to keep an eye out is not a certainty but always worth trying, these days most of us are aware of these problems and you may be surprised how many are happy to help. Neighbourhood watch principle...