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I´ve seen various reports in the Spanish and English media during the last few weeks, headlining that “Spain continues to be the top country for Brits behaving badly, with drink and drugs contributing to the problems of over 5,000 people who needed consular help in Spain during the last 12 months”.
These headlines (and these figures) should be given some sort of perspective….and I´m just the man to provide it!
According to the reports, 2,290 Brits were arrested in Spain for various offences during the 12 months to March 2009, 35 people reported a sexual assault, with a further 22 claiming they were raped; 741 were hospitalized and 7,548 managed to lose their British passports in Spain. It is also reported that the problems (particularly those related to incidents involving drink or drugs) peaked during the summer months.
I´m no Einstein, but these figures surely aren´t surprising? They may not even be as bad as the media are making out when you consider that Spain continues to be the most popular destination for UK travelers, with around 17 million (yes 17 MILLION!) visitors to the country during the year.
In fact the British Consul in Malaga, Steve Jones, commented “In reality the emergency and Consular assistance we offer is to a tiny fraction of the total who visit or reside here”.
It seems that “TINY FRACTION” translated into BIG HEADLINES. Fairly typical of the media really.
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