British couple thrown into a Spanish jail in row over paella

British couple thrown into a Spanish jail in row over paella

A HOLIDAY couple were arrested and thrown into cells in Spain for refusing to pay £12 for paella they had not even ordered.

By: Jack HattonPublished: Tue, June 11, 2013
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Geoff Cox and Bridget Keyes were held after disputing £12 bill for paella

A sunshine cycling tour turned into a nightmare for Geoff Cox and his girlfriend Bridget Keyes when they ate out in a restaurant.

On their bill the couple noticed they had been charged for an extra paella. But their complaint to the waiter escalated into pushing and shoving when he insisted that they were wrong.

The couple, thinking the police would side with them, agreed for them to be called.

When officers arrived, the pair were stunned to find themselves arrested in a melee which saw Mr Cox’s glasses broken and him eventually fined.

To add insult to injury the police later demanded compensation amid claims that the couple had assaulted them.

Retired hosiery salesman Mr Cox described the “horrific” incident on May 17 after they pointed out to the waiter they had wrongly been charged 15 euros (£12.75) for an extra paella.

He said: “He went off like a firecracker and a row ensued. We put down 105 euros and said we would pay that, but he wanted 120 euros (£101).

“It got a bit ugly and when he said he would call the police we said, ‘Right, fine’, because we were certain they would side with us.”

Instead the police arrested them, took their fingerprints, confiscated their shoelaces and put them in separate cells for the night without food or drink. “Two lawyers and a translator turned up 12 hours later – we had no information, no food and no water,” said Mr Cox, who is in his 50s of Newdigate, Surrey.

The couple's situation went from bad to worse as they also had to pay a heavy legal fee

To add insult to injury the police later demanded compensation amid claims that the couple had assaulted them.
“I was told I was charged with assault on the police, resisting arrest and defrauding a restaurant, that these were criminal charges and I could get a year in jail.

“Plus we were told the police had filed for damages against us.”

After an agonising seven-hour wait, they were taken to court where they were told the criminal charges had been dropped.

However, the police damages claim remained and they had to return to court two days later.

“That messed up our holiday plans as we were off to Seville,” said Mr Cox. “We came back to Granada at a cost of 200 euros to have our day in court. We still didn’t know what was happening.

The prosecution demanded fines of 360 euros each, plus 260 euros damages to the police. In the end we were fined 78 euros, and 250 euros damages for me throwing my face against his fist.”

They also paid a £340 legal bill.

Mr Cox said: “I’m an ordinary, middle class, respectable citizen who has never had any trouble with the police.

“It’s a bloody outrage and we must still make sure our fine gets paid to the right place.

“If it gets lost in the system we could find ourselves facing a European extradition warrant, so I’m still worried about it.”

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/406632/British-couple-thrown-into-a-Spanish-jail-in-row-over-paella

Pushing and shoving? It sounds as though there might be a teensy bit more to this than meets the eye.
Some Brits abroad do have a nasty habit of treating foreigners and waiters like morons, although I'm not saying that this happened. But I have seen a bit of it going on here.

That is odd, Sabot, yes. Also, the Spanish police are well used to dealing with ghastly lager-lout type Brits on holiday, without it turning into an international incident, so it's a bit odd that a dispute with a couple of cyclists escalated like this...

And look at the bill-

Retired hosiery salesman Mr Cox described the “horrific” incident on May 17 after they pointed out to the waiter they had wrongly been charged 15 euros (£12.75) for an extra paella.

He said: “He went off like a firecracker and a row ensued. We put down 105 euros and said we would pay that, but he wanted 120 euros (£101).

There must have been more than two cyclists at the meal to run up a bill like that?

So how many Paellas did they order? This was probably the problem. 105 Euros isn't exactly cheap, and much more than two ordinary people would consume. I suspect that they tried to get away with a free one, although possibly by accident.

Or, there was 8 or 9 of them in the group, Sabot? I don't think we're hearing the whole story, somehow...

Also here:



Spanish arrest: Geoff Cox and Bridget Keyes were arrested on holiday in Spain after a row in a restaurant over a £12 paella

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339010/British-couple-thrown-Spanish-jail-fined-600-refusing-pay-paella-didnt-order.html#ixzz2Vtycui91
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where the party is variously referred to as a group/ four of them.

Something about the story makes my nose twitch. Or maybe it's just the fact that I don't much like Lycra Louts, and can well imagine the whole lot of them shouting SPEEKA DA EENGLISH!!! at the waiter, very slowly to make sure he could understand it.

Ah, Yes. "The Group".