Holidaymakers have been issued a warning to keep all their belongings safely with them while holidaying in Spain after a young British mum feared she could be left stranded when her passport was taken. The woman’s bank cards were also stolen from her bag leading her to share her distressing experience on social media platform TikTok.
Jess, who is known online as @je55x, explained in a video how she was sat in a McDonald’s restaurant in Salou, a resort town south of Barcelona, when she realised she had been targeted. The items had been removed from her bag, which was left hanging open from the handles of her child’s pushchair.
Jess told her followers: “My passport, my two cards, everything is gone.” Her main concern was being able to get back home.
She said: “How the hell am I going to get home?” Not only this but she also discovered that attempts had been made to use her bank cards at a nearby steakhouse, reports the MEN.
Jess said she’s since contacted the police, who told her to make her way to the station, which was 1.4 miles away. When she reached the station, Jess encountered another Brit who had just experienced a similar theft.
She said: “I’ve just been talking to another woman here and she’s had the full phone, purse… everything gone, and she was only stood nearby.” Jess ended her video with advice for fellow travellers.
She warned: “I’m just putting it out there. Just keep your stuff on you and not around you.
“Anything can happen anywhere. You just never know when it’s going to happen to yourself so always be alert and on it so it doesn’t happen to you.”
TikTok users offered Jess advice, suggesting the UK embassy would be best suited to help with her dilemma. One commented: “You need to go to the UK embassy they’ll get you a new passport for you to get home.”
Others noted that Spain is notorious for pickpocketing. A TikTok user said: “Unfortunately it’s well known in Spain for this happening, you need a cross-body bag and keep it closed always.”
And one woman shared her own similar tales of theft in Spain. “Mine [passport] got stolen in Benidorm,” they said. “Had to go to the embassy in Alicante to get an emergency travel document.”
In a video update, Jess revealed that she took the initial advice to heart and visited the British embassy in Barcelona, where she was charged £100 for a temporary passport to return home. The Government also recommends cancelling your old passport as soon as possible if it is lost or stolen to prevent someone else using it.