OUT OF CONTROL

NO-ONE likes the police controls in Spain; even if you’ve got all your paperwork, car and life in order it can still be quite intimidating, particularly when faced with armed police and spikes on the road.

This worry has come up every year at our United Nationalities of Marbella Summits.  It is an unusual and uncomfortable experience, filling even the innocent with a sense of anxiety.

Resulting from these concerns we managed to get the four free taxis a month policy offered by Linea Directa extended to include everyone in our international community who has an NIE and lives in the province of Malaga, as well as the launch of our #ZeroHero incentive to reward the designated driver with free soft drinks.

If we haven’t been drinking when going through a control, logically the experience will be a routine one, with less to fear.

Nonetheless whatever the circumstances it’s never a good idea to panic or avoid a control. Not only is it a fineable offence it can turn into quite an ordeal as my kids found out last week when finding themselves being chased down by the National Police!

The controls take quite a while to set up and obviously the law enforcement officers aren’t out to ruin our day, quite the contrary.

Any touristic area attracts those looking to have a good time and those who wish to take advantage of our guards being down, so if we act untowardly this can create confusion.

As far as my kids were concerned it had been a long day; they’d worked, they’d picked up shopping after work and now, baby in car, wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

Seeing a police control down the hill at the next roundabout they decided to do a U-turn, simply opting for an alternative route home.

In their minds controls are slow, they take up time and have nothing to do with them.

For the policemen down the hill however the story line was quite different. Within minutes the whole force of the patrol was chasing behind them, sirens blaring and weapons a flourish, coming to a screeching halt in front of their car.

I’m so grateful at least the baby was there to help soften the moment as I’m sure the police were not happy they’d packed everything up in alarm to chase down a bunch of youngsters suffering from a case of ‘TGIF.’

Fortunately the police did react quickly when seeing the reality of the situation and commended the kids for having slowed down when they realised what was happening; but also severely reprimanding them for their extreme lack in judgement.

I know my kids learnt their lesson, one I thought worth sharing so you also know that when faced with the police remember they are just doing their job: be polite at all times, don’t lie or make up excuses and if faced with it, don’t trying getting out of the control!