Driving in Flip Flops

I find it amazing when I read about you being stopped once or twice a week! We have a holiday home in Murcia which we love and we have so far never been stopped.

I have been driving for 40 years in the West Midlands and have never been stopped on a roadside check!

Call me a Cynic but do you get a receipt after being fined? Are the Police on some sort of commision for every fine imposed?

Hi shropshall,

The very point of my previous point was that you CAN drive around the UK for 40 years,and if you are a law abiding citizen you will NOT get stopped, nor come across any 'road blocks'. Here in Spain they stop you indiscriminately, for no apparent reason other than to find some reason to 'fine you'.

Justin in a post below (in one of his more serious moments), commented that he found their actions both "unecessary" and "intimidating". Often there will be one or two officers standing in the middle on the road with arms folded pointing at drivers to pull over for no apparent reason. What their criteria for stopping you at that time, may well vary depending on time of day and location.Police along the Costa del Sol are very active in this regard, and it strikes me as being very strange that this area has the highest density of expats and tourists than anywhere else in Spain, which can be 'rich pickings' for them.

As for 'fines', it is true what 'alarmred' said in his post below, about handing cash over to officers as 'fines' without receiving a ticket, receipt or other paperwork.This has not happened to me personally, but I do know of many people personally that has experienced this sort of behaviour. The authorities are well aware this sort of thing goes on and to be fair to them, they do occasionally do something about it. Only a few months ago, two local police officers in Marbella were arrested as a result of a 'sting' operation, where 'decoys' were used to incur 'on the spot fines' without receipts or paperwork.

To be honest, I don't want to enter into a crusade against the police, either here or in the UK as they both have a diffficult job to do. If they treat expats any different from local Spanish people, in some respects who can blame them, when you see the way some British 'holidaymakers' behave here. They even made a 'fly on the wall' documentary a couple of years ago, where TV cameras followed local police, going about their business in Fuengirola, Benalmadena, Torremolinos, and Puerto Banus. We all witnessed the very worst excesses of British youth that had been transplanted from many UK cities to these shores.

I just feel that given the extraordinary financial circumstances we all find ourselves in, both in Spain and the UK, where tourist figures are down, property prices have plumetted,small business and many restaurants are closing, that the actions of the police doesn't exactly encourage people to go out and enjoy themselves. In some respects, coupled with a Spanish attitude of putting prices up when visitor levels fall, it has the effect of driving people away from Spain, instead of encouraging people to come and enjoy the very best of what Spain DOES have to offer.

Best wishes

Bobaol, I would be interested to see specific links to the information you cite; I did as you suggested and (briefly) Googled both flip flop and barefoot driving. For flip flops all the most recent results are talking specifically about Spain (including this thread!), but there's really no discussion there - anything that makes walking harder is almost certain to inhibit driving as well, so whether or not it's illegal, I wouldn't recommend it. But barefoot is another matter. Most footwear restricts you in some way or other and I cannot find any reference to driving barefoot actually being dangerous. On the contrary, most of the information that comes up states that it is not illegal anywhere. To compare it to drink driving or using a mobile whilst driving is ludicrous. You may as well suggest that wearing sunglasses while driving causes accidents, or that walking barefoot on the beach poses a danger to other beach users. Perhaps driving without gloves and hat is also dangerous? If so, my father may be vindicated after all.

That's not to say that the Guardia may not be deliberately stopping "soft" targets (e.g.foreign tourists) on such pretences, and since clearly some have been caught in this trap, it's good advice to avoid driving barefoot too in areas where there may be increased Guardia activity. As for the suggestion that this kind of thing is more common in Spain than the UK, I think it's wrong to generalise. I have been living (and driving) in Spain for over 12 years and have never (touch wood) been stopped, and rarely see road blocks. UK police may not have the right to randomly stop vehicles (really?) but they hardly need to bother when there's now a camera every hundred yards or so to film your every transgression. The Spanish equivalent is just less sophisticated and advanced (like most things Spanish). Obviously from canon999's posts, Benahavis / Estepona are good areas to avoid! In fact, since Susan (Justin's better half) posted yet another article today about the cost of living being higher in Spain than the UK, I would suggest that that end of the coast is a good area to avoid all together for various reasons! Again, such generalisations can be very misleading. But that's another subject / thread.

Drive safely, and be lucky!

My Two penn'orth...

1) 'Policing by Consent' went largely out of the window when the Blair Government brought in the Pre***tion of Te**orism Act 2000 and amended the Stop and Search rules accordingly. Ask any Black orAsian youth...

2) The UK police don't need to run roadside spot checks since Traffic Policing is so automated what with an overabundance of Speed cameras, ANPRS and CCTV. However the Department of Transport can and do run spot checks; VOSA can and do; Customs and Excise can and do and there is invariably a police presence at such check points. In the cities, designated council officials and Traffic Wardens have a hell of a lot of power regarding parked vehicles and can have untaxed vehicles removed and broken up...Incidentally under POTA 2000 the police can run Roadside spot checks under certain circumstances....

3)The laws pertaining to Hi-Viz vests, warning triangles and spare bulbs are not exclusive to Spain; they are European Law; the fact that the UK has not as yet invoked them is probably down to the fact that it doesnt bring in any extra taxation to the Exchequer...and that enforcement would be difficult.

4) How does a traffico know that the car he about to stop is a tourist? If it is a Spanish reg vehicle he won't know until he stops the car...so it cannot be a case of picking on the tourists, even in the ex-pat enclaves of the CDS or CB. If however the vehicle is on British/Irish plates then that's the price you pay; you could well be one of the suspected 80% who have no valid UK Tax or MOT, in which case you deserve all you get!

Morerosado makes mention of the fact that they Motorcycle Trafficos can be intimidating; have you looked at your average Brit M/cycle policeman lately?  It's called protective gear; you try falling off one of those huge police bikes at anything much above 50 mph and see how you get on; if you are trapped underneath one you wont extricate yourself without help! ...You wanna see intimidating... go to Gatwick and play spot Judge Dread..West Sussex police have it down to a fine art...

We have been in Spain for three years, in this time I have been stopped twice; a couple of weeks ago in Granada City where City police were stopping every third car on a routine drugs check; neither my papers nor my cars papers which were all in order were requested, but I was asked to open the rear passenger door whilst a sniffer dog had a quick sniff around and a second dog went around the outside of the car. After a delay of no more than a minute I was on my way again with a courteous "Gracias por su cooperación." Given that when stopped I rolled the side window down and said "Buenos Dias" to the officer who stopped me I dont think he even twigged that I was English...

On the other occasion I was halfway between my village and the next when the Trafficos stopped me and carried out a full inspection of my vehicle papers and my passport. It was during this check that I found out that almost invariably at least one of the crew are dual or multi-lingual and trained to near paramedic standards...(This may also account for the reason that foreign tourists are not generally 'targetted' in the UK;  How many British plods are dual or multi-lingual?)

On one occasion we had to stop and get off the local Motorway because we had a puncture; I was quite able to change the wheel without help but was stymied by the lack of a special key to remove the hub-cap (just another little Renault gotcha...). My wife was with me at the time so she said she would get a taxi to the local Renault garage and buy a key...We hailed a taxi and off she went, only to return 30 minutes later with the news that she needed the cars permisso document in order to buy the key.

She asked if I would go this time since she wasnt sure of exactly what the garage was saying to her, so I grabbed the papers, jumped into the same taxi and went back to the garage. Got the key, got back in the taxi and went back to car to find two Trafficos waiting; they asked to see the car's papers and then assisted me whilst I did the wheel change. During the course of changing the wheel one of the officers let slip that had I called the trafficos they would have done the run to the Renault Garage and saved us a lot of Aggro...

Regular readers of these boards will know of the extraordinary lengths the Trafficos went to when we broke down in the Basque Country on our way from the UK to Granada when we first arrived.

Our dealings to date with the Trafficos have all been good; we have found them to be helpful and courteous.

There will always be the occasional bad apple but this applies anywhere not just Spain...

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Ignoring the Spain ones:

From Yahoo Answers : 

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I disagree with some of those comments bobaol.

Last year I attended several track days in Spain.  I drove around the circuit at high speed and being very aggressive on the brakes...all with no shoes on...and I put in some very respectable lap times.

If anything, I think I actually have a better feel of what the car is doing under breaking when I'm not wearing shoes.

It's a bit like what Ayrton Senna used to say about driving a car.  You should drive holding the steering wheel with your finger tips, as you have a much greater feel about what the car is doing instead of gripping the steering wheel hard with your hands.

I suppose each to their own at the end of the day.

Justin

I once had the misfortune to drive a Renault 21 (company vehicle, not my choice) and due to closeness of the pedals to one another, was simply unable to drive it with ANY kind of footwear on. Perhaps French people have extra narrow feet, or perhaps French cars are just crap (my personal opinion). Also used to drive old Triumphs (Herald, Spitfire) in which the driving position put you at an almost 45 degree angle to the direction of travel. Perhaps I should have had custom made boots to compensate for the resulting odd angle of the pedals, but simply removing your shoes made it manageable. And Justin, I sympathise. I used to have a Lancia! Specifically designed for primates and Italians, and much easier to drive barefoot. We know!

I'll have a peeing contest with you any day, Bob - sounds like fun. But I agree, since people evidently have been stopped and fined for such a ridiculous reason, it would be foolish to ignore the advice to keep a pair of size 13 Doc Martins in the footwell (underneath the brake pedal there's usually space to stow them) on the off chance that one day you have to prove to some Brokeback mincer in green uniform how butch you are, and that you can exert more pressure on your brake pedal than the next guy.

(All said with tongue firmly in cheek  )

I live in NE Extremadura, where the police leave you alone. What I don't understand about you guys on the CB & CDS is that on the one hand the cops seem to jump on you for anything always looking to hand out a fine, and then on the other hand I read on this website about the anarchy of half a zillion Brits driving around the costas with untaxed, uninsured, no-MOT cars. If they'll stop you on the offchance you're wearing flip flops, surely to God it's courting disaster to drive around in an illegal car?

I haven't been to Torremolinos since I was a teenager in the sixties, so I've told my wife we must drive down and check out the CDS next month. I'll certainly make a point of not driving barefoot after reading this thread.

Roberto: I'll have a peeing contest with you any day, Bob - sounds like fun.

Just lately I'm afraid that it'll have to be 2 am, 3 am, 4 am and 5 am cos that's how many time I have to get up in the night. 

To Foxbat and Bobaol,

Both excellent posts lots of truth and common sense, now suddenly a vendetta against the police.  Also I know plenty of people who have been stopped when I was living in the UK for no apparent reason. What I cannot understand is this constant referral to how we do things in the UK,  -  that wouldn't happen in the UK this wouldn't happen in the UK -   Let's say something nice about the police for instance the way they  'police'  the local schools in Spain to make sure the children are safe when arriving and returning from school and I am almost sure that it is every school, they don't do that in the UK.  

Kathy

 Yes, but remember that it's normally not the police but the Guardia Civil that tend to stop cars on the roads and do their road blocks....and I still don't see the point of the Guardia Civil!

Justin

Bob, can I take diuretics, or are they a banned substance in our chosen field?

Justin, I don't think the average foreign tourist or even resident makes any great distinction between the police and the Guardia - they're both uniformed figures of authority, and just seem to be different departments of the police force. So what exactly is the difference? Aren't the Guardia just a throw back to the Franco era, a para-military show of power symptomatic of any dictatorship, that haven't as yet been absorbed into the mainstream police? Why, for that matter, is there a National and a Local police force, and how do their powers vary? Fodder for a new article, perhaps?