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ROSALIA has become the first Spaniard to win an MTV Music Award, by bagging ‘Best Latino Video’ for her song Con Altura with J Balvin and El Guincho.
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Your expat
voice in Spain
Vol. 13 Issue 325 www.theolivepress.es August 28th - September 10th 2019
TANTRIC TORTOISE
A RANDY tortoise has gone missing from his Costa Blanca home while his Brit owner is urgently appealing to the public for help. ‘Torte’ the tortoise disappeared from the Camino
roperty
TREE FELLING TREE TRIMMING & REMOVAL Tel: 622 932 049 Tel: 622 304 104
rockscampogardens@gmail.com
Bolted on
from Greece, and has been in David Priaulx’s care for the last 30 years. “I’ve had so many escapades with him over the years,” David, who lives in Jalon, told the Olive Press. “He escaped once in Broad-
MISSING: Torte
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Modern masterpieces
Have you seen a tortoise around Jalon? Contact the Olive Press at newsdesk@theolivepress.es
Issue 33
September 2019
From pet passports to dodgy removal men, one British family’s highs and lows as they set up in Spain before Brexit strikes... See page X
BAREBACK: In Ibiza
, tllo a Ba lon sa Ca Barce
that’
gine running outside a garage in San Pedro. All chaos then ensued as the minor - who cannot be held criminally responsible - floored it and crashed into the Laude School.
A WOMAN has been filmed riding naked upon a red Ferrari as its cigar-chomping driver cruises the streets of Ibiza. The woman appears stuck in completely oblivious as stairs, Kent, and went to she dances to reggaeton stay two nights in a local music blaring from the slow-moving supercar. B&B. “When we picked him up The incident was filmed the owner gave me an in- at the Marina Ibiza on the voice, saying ‘no one had Balearic island, and was ever stayed for free and he later widely shared on sowasn’t going to be the first’. cial media. “Torte’s like my nemesis, But the driver is now being but I love him and so does pursued for reckless driving. the whole family.” David added that Torte an- A city council spokesperson said the authorities swers to his name. He said, however, that the hope to track down the randy tortoise will ‘pick culprits soon as ‘there are on anyone’ and is known not many cars like this in to make a loud ‘shrilling Ibiza’. noise’ when mounting the shoes of his victims.
FOOT FETISH: Tortoise gets
Appeal launched for ‘randy’ tortoise after it escapes from British centre
Corrales area of Jalon last Tuesday. He is understood to come
‘Audid you manage
A JOY ride has gone pearshaped after an Irish teen smashed through a school wall in his dad’s Audi A4. The cheeky 13-year-old hopped into the driver’s seat as his father left the car en-
, cho a pri bri Ca El Canta
A MAN, 26, has been gored repeatedly in his testicles at a bull run in Cuellar, near Valladolid, after he jumped a fence and became tangled.
Yeh Wright
TOWIE star Mark Wright has discovered he is related to Andalucian swordsmen on BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?
’s rty ain pe e Sp pro zin -to ga go ma
The old and the new and the downright, bizarre. P Find out what’s hot in our Property Magazine
But which is Spain’s favourite modernist building?
de io , lac goria d dri Pa LonMa
Ca Ca sa sti Leo lla Lis, n y
See page III (a clue is in the picture in the middle)
UPS AND DOWNS Growth figures for July make up for sluggish foreign buyers and a drop in June
SPAIN has recorded its best month for property sales for 11 years, new government data has revealed. A total of 47,890 transactions were reported in July 2019, marking a 3.8% year-on-year increase. June 2008 was the last time more homes were snapped up in Spain, continuing the trend of steady market growth. The regions of Extremedura (23.4%), La Rioja (22.4%) and Castilla-La Mancha (21.6%) recorded the largest year-on-year
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RENNOVATION TRICKS: At Ronda Romantica Hotel
BREXIT NIGHTMARE
Hellcare
THE healthcare costs of hundreds of thousands of British nationals in Spain may only be covered for a matter of months. Government officials have confirmed that in the event of a no-deal Brexit expats’ unrestricted access to healthcare could end after just six months. In the nightmare scenario, the often costly treatment would have to be funded by the individuals after that date. While a British embassy spokesman insisted the new ruling would not be introduced until the end of 2020, it is still a major jolt for already worried expats.
Taxes
“Having paid taxes our whole working lives, pensioners should be entitled to free healthcare whether we choose to retire in Bradford, Bournemouth or Barcelona,” said Sue Wilson, of Bremain in Spain. “The UK government is trying to reassure people with this new announcement, but inevitably people will ask ‘what about after six months?’” The Department of Health has sofar only pledged £150m to cover the costs of British nationals living in the EU after a no-deal. This would cover pensioners, students, those on disability benefits and UK workers posted to the EU, as well as UK tourists who began their holiday before the UK’s exit. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Protecting the healthcare rights of UK nationals is a priority of this government. UK nationals in the EU’ should nevertheless act now and take the simple steps needed to secure their access to healthcare.” Listen in, Page 4
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growth. In total, 11 of Spain’s 17 regions grew over the last year. It made up for a 9% year-onyear drop in June, which suggested the market was really slowing down. There have also been some big declines in the long time foreigners favourite the Balearics as well as Madrid, which saw drops of 21.9% and 8.1% respectively. In the Balearics the slump follows on from the introduction of strict new rental laws which have made it more
difficult for owners to rent to tourists. This has made property on the islands less attractive as investment opportunities. Further negative news saw foreign buyers drop by 7%, with British buyers among those being put off purchasing in Spain (see Slow Down, pg II). It is hoped that the end of the Brexit saga, possibly next month, and the long awaited return to political stability can help recuperate British losses while also bringing a boost to both the foreign and domestic markets. DECLINE: Mallorca’s property market has dramatically slowed down following new
rental laws
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Your expat
voice in Spain
Mijas Costa
Vol. 13 Issue 327 www.theolivepress.es September 25th - October 8th, 2019
Replacement flight rip offs, evictions from hotels, anxiety among thousands of tourists as Thomas Cook folds after 178 years
Get me out of here! THE biggest peacetime repatriation of Britons abroad is in full swing following the collapse of Britain’s oldest travel company Thomas Cook. A shocking 120,000 British holidaymakers are still stranded overseas following the travel giant’s collapse on
By Robert Firth and Joshua Parfitt in Alicante
Monday. A massive 70,000 of them were stuck in Spain, when the massive firm which has 55 hotels and dozens of
IT’S SPAIN vs FRANCE: Which country comes out top for World Tourism Day on September 27? Find out on Page 42
Opinion Page 6
planes in Spain - filed for bankruptcy. Most of them were left in the dark about their travel plans and even if their hotels would be paid. While all clients are ATOL protected, meaning they would be provided with flights home, many could not afford the expected wait for many hours, even days. Some customers told the Olive Press how they had been forced to fork out huge sums of money for quicker replacement flights.
Forced
Jamie Marshall, 40, told the Olive Press he had spent €1200 euros on replacement flights from Mallorca to London for his family of four. “It’s very disappointing,” he said. “We weren’t told anything. If a pilot I know hadn’t told me, I’d have just turned up at the airport.” Many others were forced to bed down on airport floors as they battled mammoth queues in airports. One mum, stranded in Almeria, insisted she will run out of vital food supplies for her disabled daughter unless she is flown home this week. Demine Warner, 25, from Essex, will urgently need medicine for Aubree, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and needs to be tube-fed milk through her stomach, if they don’t get to fly out as scheduled by this Wednesday (today). “We still haven’t heard anything. I’m worried
about my daughter as she is on medical milk and cannot eat the food here,” she said. “We will soon run out.” Thomas Cook customers at some hotels meanwhile, reported staff threatening to kick them out if they didn’t pay huge amounts of money. Bars in Magaluf clubbed together to pay for food, drinks and accommodation for a group of five lads from Manchester. It came after staff at the BH Mallorca hotel allegedly threatened to kick them out if they didn’t cough up €1800. “I don’t understand why they were kicking those boys out. They hadn’t done anything wrong,” a barman told the Olive Press. He added: “There is no one in the resort helping out. Why isn’t there someone from the British Consulate here?” In the biggest travel company collapse in history, 600,000 people were left stranded worldwide after the UK government denied an eleventh-hour bailout of £250 million. The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has commandeered a fleet of 45 aircraft from as far away as Malaysia to support the massive rescue operation. They will fly from 53 destinations in 17 countries. By the end of Tuesday, 30,000 out of 150,000 passengers had been flown home, with around 5% having to spend a day longer in Spain. A massive 21,000 people (thousands in Spain) have been left jobless by the travel firm’s sudden collapse, with 9,000 in the UK. Online competition and debts were citContinues on Page 8
Opinion Page 6
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