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Couple abandoned in Benidorm hell
A LYTHE couple had their hire car towed away and were abandoned at the side of the road after they were unable to pay a speeding fine in Spain.
Grandparents Chris and Sue Troughton had been on a day trip to Benidorm three days into their week-long stay in Alicante when they were pulled over by police in their silver Citroen.
Although they admitted speeding they couldn't have accounted for what happened next.
They ended up 180 Euros – 160 – out of pocket and it took them seven hours to get their vehicle back after being pulled over at 10.15am.
The officers told them they must pay an on-the-spot 98 Euro fine for speeding, but Sue (56), a medical secretary and Chris (55), a joiner and watch manager at Lythe Fire Station, only had 50 Euros on them which the police refused to take.
They even offered to pay on a credit card – something Sue's Spanish guide said was accepted should such an incident occur- but the police wouldn't let them pay by card.
Instead the couple sought help in a nearby cafe to see if they had a cash machine, which it didn't and a Polish man tried to negotiate with police.
When the officers stopped yet another British car, Sue tried to speak to the family to ask if they could loan them some money until they could find a cash machine to pay the fine, but the police told them not to talk to us and said only cash would do.
Sue told the Whitby Gazette: "They couldn't have cared less.
"We were absolutely gobsmacked. I think it is dangerous to just abandon people.
"They kept saying it's not our problem, it's your problem.
"They had all our details.
"I don't know why we couldn't have kept the car and driven back into Alicante and paid the fine.
"The 180 Euros was a lot of our spending money but it's not the money, it was the way we were treated."
The couple, who had been staying in a villa, thankfully found a train station nearby and it took them a train ride at a cost of just over 2 Euros, and two taxi rides at a cost of 30 Euros, before they eventually got their car out of the 24-hour compound.
But it was shut when they arrived for siesta and eventually re-opened at 5pm – seven hours after the drama unfolded.
They handed over another 50 Euros which they had to pay to get their car back from a compound.
Sue said now they are back at home she has written a letter to the Spanish Embassy.
She has spoken out about their experience to warn other tourists of what might happen so they can be prepared.
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Weather for Whitby
Thursday 24 May 2012
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