Just a quick warning to those visiting the Torremolinos area. I have just received a most disturbing letter from the owners of my time-share apartment, informing me that there is now a criminal gang who are targeting visitors apartments and robbing them. The police are as yet powerless to catch these people in the act. Consequently they are moving us from the centre to a more secure apartment block that has strict security, on the outskirts of town. Hope this is nipped in the bud soon.

Hmm! You have no idea how much this expression, often used by tabloid newspapers, makes the residents of this coast bristle with indignation, Sue.

Yes, crime occurs down here, but believe me I would much rather live here than where I was in England, even if it is just for the fact that we can wander round the streets in the early hours of the morning and not have to look over our shoulders all the time. Children can play outside in safety. On the rare occasion when I have seen any trouble here it is almost always caused by drunken British who can't enjoy a drink without becoming aggressive and they are a small minority.

Whenever I have revisited my home town in the UK I have felt uneasy in the town centre on a Friday or Saturday night. And I am sure you have robberies where you live too?

We have an awful lot of things going for us on this coast and all the hard work that is put in by the authorities and companies can easily be undone by phrases such as Costa del Crime. It really winds everybody up! You see how easily it springs to your mind, when you want a topic subject?

Sorry if I am having a go here, but I feel strongly about it. You are correct to warn people about events that may possibly occur, but what I am saying is please don't attach labels unfairly.

How confident are you that the owners of the time-share are telling you the truth and not just covering their own 'overbooking' or the like by convincing you that you'll be safer out on the outskirts of town? Places like that with open 'getaway' routes might even be more susceptible to breaking & entering, etc.

I've often wondered if the statements by the time share agencies are all that real. After all, transferring people from ocean front property to another inland is a way of opening up ocean front property to be rented again, isn't it?

I'm not saying that's the case, but let's face it, this could work to the advantage of the rental company, and if they are really "concerned for their renters" it would make sense that they would add alarm systems that would reduce the incident rate dramatically instead of doing something that smacks of being "bait and switch."

If I was in a time share, and they did that to me, I'd demand that they offer the proper protection, not move me to a less valuable property. If I wanted inland property I would have opted for it in the first place, at a much reduced price.

Wolf

Being an American, I feel we have cornered the market on crime over here so I find it difficult to be discouraged from traveling by alerts about crime. Maybe because I have always lived in huge cities and think I am generally been pretty aware of my surroundings and fairly cautious I have never had a problem overseas. I spent 6 incident free weeks in the Costa del Sol by myself last summer and felt safer there than I do when I am at home. Unfortunately these things happen from time to time and a few isolated incidents are no reason to brand an entire region as some sort of criminal free for all.

I consider myself reprimaded for my use of wording. Strong I agree, but the shock was too much! My timeshare owners are very concerned about the level of crime in the block we stayed in. I must point out that this block is also home to many local people and the company only has a small number of apartments to let out. Last year their were several incidents of super glue being put into the locks of the apartments used by visitors and some of the residents were totally hostile to us Brits. This block is not on the beach but in the centre itself. Yes, I have always felt safe in this area and agree with some of the comments made about safety, but now I will feel even better knowing that my company have done the decent thing by us. Sorry Anchovy Front if I offended you it was not meant as a slur on the good people of the Costa. :o

No, I'm sorry for getting grumpy like that, Sue! It was just the use of that phrase that gets me going! And in fairness, it has been a bit of a refuge here for some dodgy characters over the years. In fact, now that Ronnie Biggs has gone back to a life behind bars, that just leaves me as the last one still at large .......