The
OLIVE PRESS
Mijas Costa FREE
Schools out! NEARLY 220 schools across Spain have recorded incidents of COVID-19, leading to the quarantine of classrooms and in some cases total closures. A total of 34 schools have been affected in Andalucia alone, the region with the most incidents. The Basque Country is the second most affected region with around 30 schools reporting cases of coronavirus either among staff or students by Tuesday. In total, only four of them had to be closed with the other centres adopting partial quarantine. Meanwhile Aragon has seen the closure of 24 classrooms, Castilla-La Mancha 20 classrooms, Madrid 26 classrooms. In the Balearic Islands, a total of 29 students have tested positive for coronavirus since the beginning of the school year.
Can you spot the original Peeping Tom? See page 13
Your
It will be all... White
expat
voice in Spain
See our travel special on page 18
Vol. 13 Issue 352 www.theolivepress.es September 16th - September 29th 2020
SPECIAL DELIVERY Returned to sender...unless you have a legal team to tackle Correos By Lydia Spencer-Elliott
A WINTER jacket, a school bag and a 22-piece tea set are just a handful of the vast and varied items on expat Lynda Martin’s missing post list. Add in an expensive plasma pen and a €500 ultrasound machine and it starts to sound like an episode of the Generation Game. But these are just some of the things that have gone missing when sent from abroad to her local post office (Correos) on the Costa del Sol. Indeed, in the last year alone, over €1,000-worth of packages have mysteriously vanished into the void at Fuengirola post office. In the latest of the disappearances at the Los Boliches branch, the aesthetic medical practitioner lost a specialist ultrasound machine, shipped from China. She believes the items have been pilfered or mislaid by light-fingered posties. “I’m sure they must know what's valuable,” Martin, 57, from Cumbria, told the Olive Press, this week. “Because on the same day recently, we had a delivery slip through our letter box for a cheap dress and an-
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YELLOW CARD: Martin giving Correos a warning
other slip for an expensive dinner set. “The slip for the dress had the correct date. But the slip for the porcelain set was a month earlier, so it
was impossible for me to collect as you only have 15 days to get it. “I’m sure someone changed the date in order to keep it.” Martin however, isn’t the only expat with a bone to pick with the posties. “A guy from Correos THE SKY called me and said I have a Nespresso deDOCTOR livery for you,” says ALL AREAS COVERED Ruth Boden from Mijas Costa. 4G UNLIMITED “He said he’d leave it at the gate but it INTERNET vanished by the time IDEAL FOR I got there. I hope he STREAMING TV enjoys his coffee.” ALSO IPTV, Another expat ChrisSATELLITE TV tine Hunt, who lives beside Mijas Golf, tel: (0034) 952 763 840 also lost a valuable package at Christmas info@theskydoctor.com time. www.theskydoctor.com
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EMPTY: Deserted classes
Andalucía
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Tel: 952 147 834 TM
See page 24
“I got a ticket for some boots I ordered but the post office said they were sent back. Back where? I gave up and walked away. “Someone else got my new boots for Christmas.” Eventually, Martin decided enough was enough and last year contracted a lawyer to draft a legal letter demanding the branch give her all her post. “All of my missing post magically appeared when I turned up with this legal letter. However, all of it had been opened and someone had been through it.” Now the problem has started again she has vowed to get to the bottom of it. “Where is the depot? They say they have sent things back, but to where? I think anything that looks expensive they just keep,” claims Martin, who has lived in Spain for 17 years. When the Olive Press approached a manager at the branch this week, she insisted parcels were only held for up to 15 days before being returned to the sender. She totally denied that anyone was keeping post, and added: “There is no depot. But if it's here, they can have it,” she said.