I read with interest the remarks per GNR and break ins etc...reminded me of 'Duty of Care' one expects from Police/Fire departments etc both in the Algarve and in the UK....I was burgled 5 times when I lived in Surrey and even though the police knew exactly who had done the 'Job'...and had fingerprints toboot..they could never convict the villains or get my goods back ..because the evidence had gone (Booty) long ago...which takes me onto care of duty and the fire brigade....I wonder how many of you beleive that the fireman is there to put out your fire if your house is ablaze...Wrong..they only have to attend...My (UK..Surrey) house was struck by lightening..the fire service turned up without water..no maps to find the Hydrants and what turned out to be a small roof fire ended up just a pile of rubbish to be scooped into a skip the next day...Our lawyers advised us to take them to court as we did and £10K later in the Lawyers pockets ther advised us that the fire brigade only have to turn up ..they don't have to actually do anything......as for Insurance..Ahhh you all say no problem there....Wrong..and a warning....They AVERAGE you back on contents...and it works like this...they ask you to write down a list of goods lost...in my case I listed about £100K of goods (Sounds a lot but once you add up curtains/carpets and all your goods...it really aint....I was insured for £50K....so thought I would get £50K....NO they said you were only HALF insured....= £25k....minus what I had left on my back and a few odds and sods Watch/Trousers ...they paid out £19k.....so be aware....AND finally all those from Carvoeiro that read all about the light plane that dropped some sort of fire lighter on the forest fires last year....remember the claims in all the papers....Locals see light plane dropping small 'Bomb'.....well that plane took off from Portimao aerodrome..it was a Cessna flown by an Englishman (Instructor) and he was circling the fire area..and giving co-ordinates to the fire brigade so they could get to it as quick as poss..and they had lots of watet....Well thats my lot for tonight ...all rather away from the original article really but thought I'd just let you know about so called duty of care in the UK....If anybody is interested I will in my nxt 'Article' tell you about the Poltergiest (Can't spell that !)...I had for years until that night I was struck by lightening..9 deaths over an eight year period and a 500 year old shop...where it all happened....all very spooky.....never to be seen again ..after that......By the way the whole story was printed in the Telegraph in 1995....all above is fact.....Ghosts and all...

I enjoyed that story...(and the information)....do continue pls

Great stuff chipmunk, keep posting, not only am I interested in, your stories, I hope that they spark wider debate.

Maddi

Jaysus chipmonk, if you didn,t have bad luck ye wouldn,t have any kuck atall.thanks for the tip on the insurance scam.
gerry

Nice story about the police in Carvoeiro, that happened last week:
burglars broke into an appartment and took the micro-wave and the dish-washer, put them outside to take them with them, but an old lady that had seen everything, had called the police.
Three policemen came, the burglars did a runner leaving the dish-wsher and the micro-wave behind. The three! policemen went up to warn the owner of the building who lives on the second floor. The owner put on his shoes and walked with the policemen to see what happened. By the time they came back the micro-wave and the dish-washer were disappeared after all! These burglars were no cowards! Or... 2 fight for a bone, and the third took it home?