Edition 280
www.thecourier.es
Friday 15th July 2016
BUYER BEWARE Customers Set For Fines
BY ALEX TRELINSKI
T
orrevieja council has warned anybody who buys items from illegal hawkers around the area that they could end up in trouble themselves with police stinging them with a fine. The warning comes as Orihuela council has launched a push against illegal hawkers on Orihuela Costa beaches with a series of posters as well as
50 thousand leaflets with the slogan "Don´t Be An Accomplice". Torrevieja mayor, José Manuel Dolón, said this week that the authority was going to get tough over the illegal traders, known as ‘looky looky men’, by also looking to enforce local laws that were first introduced in 2013 which can see fines handed out to customers
looking for an illegal bargain. José Antonio Moreno of Spain’s copyright association, Andema, said that major damage was being done to legitimate businesses and traders with unsuspecting customers, often tourists, totally unaware of the low quality products that they were being sold. Local trade and business representatives joined Dolón on a joint platform on Monday to support new moves against the unlicensed sellers. Problems with the illegal traders reached a high in Torrevieja back in 2013 with street fights breaking out between the ‘looky looky men’ and the local police and Guardia Civil, after authorities launched a big clampdown on their activities. A local ordinance was introduced at the height of
the trouble which did see some customers fined. Recently one of the main illegal sellers was arrested and sent packing back to Senegal. On the Orihuela Costa, the campaign against the hawkers was launched jointly by the council´s health, public safety and tourism/coastal councillors Noelia Grao, Mariola Rocamora and Sofía Álvarez emphasising that if nobody buys anything, then the traders will be put out of business. Areas of concern include the selling of poor quality sunglasses that do not meet basic health standards as well as the offering of beach massages that could cause injury or other side effects as they are carried out by nonqualified practitioners.
A LOAD OF RUBBISH Uncollected Litter Piles Up
T
he PSOE opposition party in Orihuela have trashed claims by the ruling PP administration that they are getting to grips with cleaning up the Orihuela Costa. PSOE councillor María García issued photos from locations in the area including Cabo Roig (pictured) showing the accumu-
lation of garbage of the streets, saying that it “saddened her walking around to see all the overflowing rubbish coming out of the containers”. Garcia added that the government team had once again let the summer arrive with the same old problems, which gave a very bad impression of the area to visitors.