My mum's purse was nicked from her bag yesterday while she was in a shop. The scumbags cleared it of all her money / cards and it was found later in a Burger King bin and handed to security.
She went to the police and they took all the details - she said a young woman with a foreign accent 'pushed past her' whilst she and my sister were looking at clothes but she didn't feel her bag being tampered with.
The police said there are currently gangs of organised pick pockets, mainly Albanian, who travel down from London and do a 'sweep' on a selected town before moving on. All very 'Fagin'.
This is just a warning to everyone here to be vigilant - I'm going to change my bag ASAP as mine only has a magnetic fastner. I don't want to make life easy for these low lifes.
My mum is a pensioner and was very, very traumatised by this incident. If only I could get my hands on the b*tch who did it ... !!!
Unfortunately this type of organised pickpocketing goes on all the time in the major towns and cities especially during the height of the tourist season. I worked for many years in the retail industry and we saw it all the time. It isn't just foreign gangs either.
It often happens on busy escalators, in train stations or at pedestrian crossings - basically anywhere where the 'dibber' can get away with shoving into you without being noticed. I know, because I have sat and watched the cctv footage with the police on numerous occasions.
I hope your Mum gets over the incident. Personal theft is a real trauma.
It is awful that we have to be so careful, but I agree with Nola that it happens all over and it is not just foreign gangs. They target people in places where they are still for a few seconds so they can get close and then bump you as you start moving again so you don't realise what's happened.
I saw it being done in Barcelona once on the tube and the were an incredibly professional team.
Sorry to hear about your moms trauma. I hope she recovers swiftly and fully.
I'm not sure I can accept the coppers assertion that we have rampaging gangs of thieving Albanians mind. I reckon he might need to be retrained in the light of the results of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry.
I think gangs of London thieves have hit the touristy bits in the South East for as long as I can remember. Im pretty sure I had my mobile lifted over the bank holiday weekend but I will never be sure. I suppose I should carry my valuables in a money belt or something but it all seems a little over the top.
Thanks for the guidance Mal.
I can find no evidence to support the assertion that pick pocketing in the south east is predominantly carried out by Albanian gangs. If you can, please let me know. The point remains that to finger point at specific ethnic groups as a police officer is hardly conducive to an integrated society.
I think the Police are trained not to make irrelevant racial cultural or religious observations like this but I could be wrong as I haven't attended police diversity training only that conducted by other public bodies covered by the same regulations.
i went to the cash point yesterday and i had typed in 70 when an old lady tripped and dropped her bag, i turned to help her (fool i hear you saying) , and then wandered off to do some shopping, got half way through the supermarket and realised what id done. i went rushing back to the bank but obvioulsy nobody had handed anything in, as if. i had to cancel my card and walk home for gods sake, id left my phone at home on charge. some say it was a scam i aint sure, but then i see the best in everyone. if i see the old woman again ill kick her friggin legs from under her.
