BBC TV Programme 31st March 2015 Shows How Tough Life is for Many Brits in Spain.

Last night's TV programme showed another side to living in Spain for 300,000 British pensioners trapped there because of the property crash, unable to communicate nor integrate properly, trying to get medical help at walk-in centres which have translators. People trying to scratch a living from less and less business, large numbers of British businesses closing down, local Spanish  dislike of the night-time drunken and rowdy Brits on the coast.

3.5 million empty properties in Spain and huge unfinished developments everywhere, why they want to build more beggars belief.

Despite all this, the rosy brigade of CDS estate agents and various property websites are duping people into buying again as if all is well!

You never hear about the 300,000 or so ex pat pensioners who enjoy living in Spain have better health care than the UK and manage to integrate with the locals by learning the language because it doesn't make good television How many of those trapped pensioners are trying to live " under the radar"? The majority of the British businesses that close down don't do their homework and expect it too easy

What really annoyed me about that programme was that the pensioners were portrayed as somehow scrounging off the free Spanish healthcare. No mention of the fact the UK pays the Spanish government an annual amount for each pensioner for their helthcare or the fact the pensioners themselves are transferring to Spain thousands of euros of their British pensions and spending it in Spain. But anyone who has been in Spain 16 years really should be able to converse in the language at a basic level even if not fluent

Spot on Scubamike

The truth for most lies between the abject doom mongers and the Rose tinted brigade.

Life for most is quite normal! we have our ups our downs our worries and concerns - just like living in the UK really.

Scambuster

What channel was this show on?, I will try and watch on catch up.

I thought the program painted a truthful picture of what it is like to run a business in Spain ( let this be a warning to all the dreamer's out there ) and the other thing the program  was trying to get across was that people were leaving it to late to go back home and wait for the inevitable judgment day   and of course let's not forget about the two blood sucking 40 year's +  kids that were living off the parents and would not take a peny less than 250,000 EU for a Villa that you can pick up for half that ,and as for the 66 year old gigolo with not a friend in the world still trying to con his way through life Spain I am lost for words .

This message was last edited by windtalker on 01/04/2015.

Just watched this on lunch break, BBC1 by the way Team, it really only did the show for a couple of Brits, one a bar / cafe owner who quite frankly didn't know how to run a cafe well at all, the other was a couple of girls working in the club game serving stupid holiday Brits drinks, who might be in for a shock when they come back as to how many good jobs are about in the UK right now, plenty in the pub / bar work...All on zero hour contracts for basic rock bottom take it or leave it pay...And be a whole lot more looking soon when B & Q close a few.

You couldn't argue with the pensioners who's wife was ill, looked to me that she got a whole lot better care in Spain then you can get here in the UK right now.

The dance training guy seemed to be getting on okay...Seemed to... One night dancing 10€ each x 30 = 300€ sounds good. But those who want to go and rent would be wise to watch this show as in his own words his rent took up all his monthly UK pension money. More to that then meets the eye no doubt.

Overall it seemed to be just another show to fill a slot to keep on telling everyone as to how the rest of the world isn't doing as well as the UK is....If only.

Well said Poppyseed I had the misfortune of going to hospital recently for an X ray and it was perfectly obvious that the staff were unaware that the British government was paying into their health system and that I was a scrounger They made my life difficult to say the least On reflection I should have made a complaint but I my thoughts were elsewhere at the time Other than that I have nothing but praise for the system here with same day doctor appointments and a well equipped health centre open 24/7

Didn't know this was on, would like to have seen it

Is it respected? 

Can't get I player

@ Team GB it was shown on BBC1.

Quite watcheable but focused on an overweight ex con and his family running some awful restaurant serving steak and chips, chicken and chips, meat pies and chips, tried but failed (frozen fish) and chips, chips and chips etc real cordon bleu stuff (not), 7 girls living like down and outs in a 1 bedroom flat who worked in bars in a grotty part of Benalmadena, a have a go single pensioner who spends all his pension on his rent because he lost all his dough on some free flights idea now trying to teach jive dance to pensioners in order to survive, an elderly lady with Altzheimers who needs medical help badly and stuck with her husband and son in an unsaleable villa.

Also showed the many Se Vende signs and unfinished developments all over the place. It did not make the CDS look good at all, but then it was the the BBC rather than the totally biased commercially driven Channel 4's cr4p.

I know quite a few people stuck in that area in negative equity who actually do want to return to the UK to be nearer family and even the NHS where a translator is still not a requirement, and some who gave their keys back and now live in mobile homes in the UK having lost everything, oh and not forgetting easy watcheable British TV. 

Spain's boom and almighty bust They're trying to repeat it again, but 3.5 million empty properties need to be disposed of or occupied first.

Sorry, I meant is it repeated?

Thanks Baz and scambuster for the channel info

Quite watcheable but focused on an overweight ex con and his family running some awful restaurant serving steak and chips, chicken and chips, meat pies and chips, tried but failed (frozen fish) and chips, chips and chips etc real cordon bleu stuff (not), 7 girls living like down and outs in a 1 bedroom flat who worked in bars in a grotty part of Benalmadena, a have a go single pensioner who spends all his pension on his rent because he lost all his dough on some free flights idea now trying to teach jive dance to pensioners in order to survive, an elderly lady with Altzheimers who needs medical help badly and stuck with her husband and son in an unsaleable villa.

Fully representitive of your average ex pat then! 

Well pretty representative of many average expats sitting on dirty white plastic chairs outside bars in Coin, Alhaurin, Benalmadena, Fuengirola, and lots of towns on the CDS who give Spain a bad name re Brits Lol

The huge guy who runs the cafe situated between the A7 and AP-7 will rarely meet anyone other than fellow Brits, Irish and none resident Spanish, it's not very nice, but is plush compared to parts of the nearby larger costas. However if you go beach side of the A7 Calahonda you rarely see the folk who reside/holiday on the other side of the coast road, the beach is quiet and the restaurants/cafes cater for many different nationalities, there is even a quality Belgique restaurant on the nearby MAX beach.

The programme picked out the very worst areas of everywhere it visited, no Puerto Cabopino, La Cala de Mijas, Mijas Pueblo or Benalmadena Pueblo for those guys, but why let the truth get in the way of a very biased pop at the Brits?

Because that's what people want to see. Like Benefits Street or Immigrant Street or Benidorm Casualty. They ignore the street next to it which is probably full of hard working people or those who do integrate and bring up their families as best they can. There are some lovely parts of Benidorm as well (believe it or not) where nary a drunken, football shirt wearing tourist is to be seen but families out for a stroll and enjoying the street cafes. 

This doesn't make television, though, or not the type of television that certain people want to watch. These programmes are usually made by people who make programmes complaining about immigrants using the free NHS or getting benefits and houses many people can only dream of. They then complain when other countries aren't quite as generous and wonder why.

Well pretty representative of many average expats sitting on dirty white plastic chairs outside bars 

Well.you may be a scambuster but I'm at a loss as to how you know the chairs are dirty 

I don't no what comes over people when they sell up a comfortable home in the UK and buy a place in Spain and think they can live on a pension that is geared up for life in the UK ,Spain is not the place you would want to be when you are old and unable to look after you're self every time you watch one of the TV programs that highlight this the rose tinted glass brigade get up in arms about the content on the program ,of course their are many thousands of expats that are very happy in Spain and that is because they call afford to live their l live in the UK and have a holiday home in Spain l manage to get over every 7 weeks throughout the year l am on holiday when I am their and all I seem to come across just lately are people that are complaining about how Spain is not like it use to be and yet they refuse to admit that they are the problem not Spain .

Average Brit/Irish bar/cafe - Dirty crockery, cutlery, glasses etc still on the table after customers have paid up and left. You take your seats and only then is the table cleared and wiped down, chairs are left as was.

Average Spanish bar/cafe - Table cleared and wiped along with chairs, as soon as customers vacate it. When you take your seat a new paper cloth is clipped to it prior to your order being taken.

It's all about standards, the UK let theirs slip donkey's years ago, even though the Spanish don't exactly throw money at their service staff, they still have some semblance of theirs, albeit having to endure the worst of the Brits, I cringed when the cab driver on the programme said what he thought of my fellow countrymen and women. Our rule of thumb is to not visit cheap nasty places, that way we have a good chance of not meeting cheap nasty people.

Don't be at a loss Team GB, I use what's called eyes when I walk past expats in just about any Spanish town on or near the coast sitting on dirty white plastic chairs at their usual hang-outs. The chairs are almost as dirty as Mercadona and Supersol's plastic shopping baskets, health and safety means diddly squat in Spain At least in the UK this can be reported to health and safety with local councils, try that in Spain Lol And don't even get me started on dog sh1t on Spanish pavements

I should add that the majority of establishments that use these cheap dirty plastic tables and chairs are in fact run by Brits and that's why Brits use them because they don't know much of the lingo, but not all, I know of several run by locals as well.

I watched this program on the i player from idle curiosity. Normally my interest won’t stretch to these sorts of ‘entertainment’ which are pure schadenfruade.

However the principal interest for me to keep watching it to the end was the motives of the programs producers. They had a not so obvious agenda in creating comparisons with European immigrant’s life styles in the UK. The girls living together in a one bedroomed apartment crammed in with clothing and rubbish strewn everywhere. The Brits enjoying their own food choices in 40C heat and never learning the language. The cook waiting to go back to jail after becoming involved in crime (Not consciously of course). It’s always someone else to blame.

The program was not in my opinion a reflection of the average expats in Spain or elsewhere. I agree you can find that element anywhere if you look for it. British ghettos do exist in Spain in the same way as Romanian and Pakistani ghettos exist in the UK and Arab banalieu’s are a reality in Paris and every other French city.

The truth is first generation immigrants almost never integrate into any new society. It’s the second and subsequent generations who do. They are educated into the culture and have a vital need to conform with their peers. Retired people come to Spain for one reason and one reason only to enjoy a warmer climate at the end of their days. The vast majority do it with great success until their health eventually fails. Returning to the UK then is an almost impossible option for almost everyone. It surely matters not where you die.

Don't be at a loss Team GB, I use what's called eyes when I walk past expats in just about any Spanish town on or near the coast sitting on dirty white plastic chairs at their usual hang-outs. The chairs are almost as dirty as Mercadona and Supersol's plastic shopping baskets, health and safety means diddly squat in Spain At least in the UK this can be reported to health and safety with local councils, try that in Spain Lol And don't even get me started on dog sh1t on Spanish pavements

I should add that the majority of establishments that use these cheap dirty plastic tables and chairs are in fact run by Brits and that's why Brits use them because they don't know much of the lingo, but not all, I know of several run by locals as well.

Dear me, not only are you a scambuster but also health, safety and hygiene inspector as well  No, sorry I can't agree with the sweeping generalisations that both you and the program seem to want to portray. We have lived here as full time residents for the last 8 years and before that as holiday homers, although of course what you describe does exist, it is not in my experience, representitive of the way most expats live their lives. Also, can't agree re  health & safety and public hygiene in supermarkets, you get good and bad the same as anywhere else - at least in Spain you can demand the complaints book and the local council will get involved quickly to sort it out.

As far as Health & Safety in the UK is concerned I understand that it is now illegal to use a ladder!! It's this type of PC that most of us are pleased to be avoiding.