A British expat and her partner have been left devastated after their BMW was broken into in an underground car park in Spain.
Anna Ruth, 27, and her boyfriend Peter, 26, say they have been robbed of more than €100,000 worth of goods that had been left inside the vehicle, including laptops, gold and silver jewellery, cash and more.
The couple, based in Denia, Alicante, were driving back to the UK, where they planned to spend the summer before coming back to Spain.
Anna told the Spanish Eye tonight: ‘We are devastated. It’s the biggest loss imaginable.
‘It’s such a tragedy for us honestly our whole life was in the car. My partner life’s work is gone.
‘It sounds crazy, I know, for having all that in the car, we are beating ourselves up about it.
‘We were staying at a small hostel so didn’t have much space for the stuff.’
Anna said her insurance provider won’t cover anything ‘because my car has been out of the UK longer than 90 days.’
Car insurance policies typically have a time limit for how long they cover you while driving outside the UK, with most offering 90 days of European cover.
The underground car park was near the Optimi rooms in Bilbao, where the couple were staying before catching a ferry – which they have now missed to deal with the ordeal.
Anna said the thieves broke the passenger door and boot to gain access to the car, but did not smash any windows.
‘We have no idea how they got inside,’ she told this newspaper.
The couple have now launched a GoFundMe page to help them recover some of their losses.
The appeal reads: ‘Last night, while travelling in Spain, our car was broken into in Bilbao and everything was stolen – from passports, laptops, clothing, money, bank cards, work tools and very rare car tuning equipment, to irreplaceable personal items.
‘Roughly £100,000 in losses. We were left with only our phones and each other.
‘We were meant to travel to the UK the next morning by ferry, but my partner’s passport was stolen, so we missed the ferry and had to go to the police and travel back to Madrid to the consulate. We’re now stranded in Bilbao.
‘We’ve reported everything to the police and are doing everything we can to replace Peter’s passport and access emergency support. But the cost of everything lost, transport, rebooking the ferry in high season and recovering even a small portion of what we had is unbelievably overwhelming.
‘Peter spent years building his car tuning business, all his equipment was incredibly expensive and it’s all gone. He now cannot carry out any of his work. The cost to replace is unimaginable, not only the equipment itself but an entire database he has built from scratch with pen drives etc.
‘If you feel called to help—even £5 makes a difference—we would be deeply grateful. And if you can’t donate, please consider sharing this with someone who might.
‘Thank you for reading this and for any support you can offer to help us rebuild.’
Read more Spain news at the Spanish Eye.
