So, who's been pickpocketed in Barcelona?

[Geri]

I've been robbed loads of times in Bristol. I think it depends on the area you are in and how much of an easy target you look.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

and me. I grew up in london, and i, and every girl i grew up with has always used a handbag. and i don't know any of them who have been pickpocketed or mugged. i do know blokes who have been mugged - but they didn't have their stuff in handbags.

by all means, never lose physical contact with your bag in a bar or club, (unless i know the djs and they let me put it behind the decks) - that's just stupid. And don't walk around with the thing dangling from your wrist or whatever. But i'm a kamikaze drinker (among other indulgences) and have been for decades, and i've never been dipped: home or abroad.

Same with me - the only time I've ever had my handbag nicked was over 20 years ago now when I was stupid and put it on the floor next to me in a busy Soho retaurant where i couldn't see it. My own fault really.

Otherwise I keep it close to me, I try and make sure it it is a zip up one or that has inside zips that I can put my purse/phone into and not let it out of my sight unless i leave it with someone I know.

Same in any other big or small city I've visited.

 

[Mapped]

I had a weird attempt at some sort of pickpocketing on La Ramblas late at night. A woman walked up to me and pushed me against a wall; one of her hands grabbed my groin and the other went straight in my pocket. I grabbed her hand, took it out of my pocket and told her to fuck right off

I'm just thinking about it now and I've never been properly robbed of anything. I've been assaulted a couple of times and ended up in hospital, but never had anything taken.

 

[tiki]

Got slashed with a knife first and then mugged of my belongings in Bristol. Sooooo antisocial.

 

[stuff_it]

I've been robbed loads of times in Bristol. I think it depends on the area you are in and how much of an easy target you look.

Drinking a can of super cider makes you look less worth robbing - fact.

 

[Epico]

Haha, this is a great thread to read before going to Barcelona for the first time on Monday!

Other than a guy attempting to pickpocket me on the metro, our visit was without incident.
I was aware of them working in small teams. As the train pulled in and the doors opened, my girlfriend got on and sat down, but a couple appeared to block me - forcing me next to the door, where I caught another fella trying to dip into my pocket (there was fuck all in that pocket anyway).

 

[gaijingirl]

The only time I ever did get pickpocketed was on Oxford Street at Christmas time when I was a teenager. I was working in a bookshop on Great Marlborough Street at the time. I was sooooo annoyed with myself really.

Apart from that I caught someone with their hand in my bag in Lille around the same time (20 years ago or so) but they scarpered with nothing.

 

[gaijingirl]

mind you - I did have my campervan smashed up and everything nicked - I was living in it at the time and it was on NYE which is also my birthday so they got all my birthday presents including some handmade silver jewellery that my bf at the time had made for me. This was in Amsterdam amidst all the fireworks on NYE so they properly smashed it up! Again - 20 years ago now.

 

[Big Gunz]

A friend of a friend just had her handbag stolen as she was exiting a train in Barcelona. They just snatched it and ran off.

 

[Fingers]

Never been robbed in Barcelona but it is one of the few cities I have not been robbed in.

The nearest I came was on las Ramblas when a group of ne-er doers surrounded me and I shout fuck off really loudly and started growling and they fucked off.

The would never have got anything from me anyway because the previous night I got everything i owned robbed on the Madrid to Barca night train after getting horribly pissed up with some yanks.

 

[Ground Elder]

Got slashed with a knife first and then mugged of my belongings in Bristol. Sooooo antisocial.

I remember it well

 

[oryx]

and started growling

well done for seeing them off - the growling thing cracked me up!

A colleague of mine visited Barcelona about a year ago and as I was telling her to be vigilant (my sister-in-law had had her bag/camera nicked there and I'd heard various other stories) she had to take a mobile call from her partner & son, who were already there, and they'd just had their bags nicked waiting for the bus from the airport!