Dear Sir, on Tuesday, the 26th of June we were in the Alcampo car park, packing the shopping into the boot at 3pm on a sweltering afternoon when a gentleman in a blue Ford Focus pulled up and asked directions to Pryca, pointing to a piece of paper.
He was most insistent on holding a form of conversation with me, and tired as I was in the afternoon heat, I went up to see what his piece of paper was referring to. My girlfriend was waiting by the car with our baby. He asked if I was English and then started to speak a very broken English. With his very thin face, thin sunglasses, thin lips and heavy tan with dirty straight short brown hair, he had a slightly unseemly and dangerous air about him.
I also noticed that the text he was holding was upside down. As soon as I saw this I knew something was wrong and moved away from the car a little.
He replied Gracias and drove off. Viki noticed that he picked someone up a few yards away and she said look Larry, I wander why he's picking someone up. She also felt something was wrong.
Then she noticed that my bag, with its keys, phone etc was gone from the back seat floor of the car.
Apparently it's standard procedure in the Alcampo car park. My insurance agent, Rowley, says that four of their clients have had the exact same thing happen to them (although car insurance doesn't cover this).
Since Alcampo is outside the Palma police area, it appears to have hardly any policing, and the security there can only be described as dire.
The security company claims that Alcampo REFUSES to spend more money on security. Today I decided to go back there as I had a feeling I would see these people and I did, cruising round in their blue Ford Focus looking for their next hit. There were two guys and a petite bleached bright orangey blonde girl in the car, the same man as yesterday.
They were clearly looking around for opportunidades. I had been cruising around for an hour at this point with the only security man to be seen at the McDonalds (opposite) end of the car park as we were at 1pm today (27th). I started to follow the Ford Focus and soon gave chase as they speeded up and exited Alcampo turning east. With my seven month year old son sleeping in the back I could not take too many risks but I called the 112 number and gave fast chase to the banditos. They kept asking questions as if the car was in one location and they could just come and pick this gang up. I chased them east until they came back on themselves going west on the north perimeter road of the old Son Bonet airport.
They then turned right and right again and I lost them at the roundabout just east of the Alcampo center. The Guardia Civil Traffico were informed. But they are nowhere to be seen.
So perhaps if they haven't changed their plates yet you could keep a lookout for this gang with a blue Ford Focus. But, more important than that, please call Alcampo and complain. What they really need is to reproduce what they have at Porto Pi, which is a security man on a small motorcycle so that the car park area can be constantly monitored for banditos.
I have chatted to the Alcampo head of security several times and he claims that the car park has two or three personnel there at all times: not true.
I have been touring this car park in my car and they are simply not there.
Only complaining and lots of it to the police and the company is going to get this thing solved. I always thought, not me.
All other car parks are also vulnerable.
Hold onto your handbags! And split your cash up, carry your cards on your person and carry photocopies of your passport and licenses if possible.
Larry Levy
San Agustin