Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,

I would just like to inform your readers that bogus gas men are operating on the island again.

Today I was nearly duped by three males all looking quite official in Repsol coloured outfits. I received an initial telephone call saying they would call in the afternoon to check my gas bottles.

My Spanish is somewhat limited and I never received a plausible explanation as to what they intended to do. On their arrival at my property my suspicions grew somewhat when they arrived in an ordinary car, with no official markings.

They immediately showed me what looked liked bona fide identity documents and said they needed to check my gas bottles before they could issue an official safety document. They then looked at my gas bottles and explained I needed new gas regulators as well as plastic piping and a new gas switch. This would cost in the region of 280 euros.

One technician actually started working changing piping without my permission. I told him to stop several times but this was ignored.

I said I didn’t have the money and requested to see their identity documents again. I decided to photocopy these and this is when one of the technicians became very agitated, asking me why I was doing this.

I said I wanted to check his story out with the local police and then when everything was checked out, I would contact him and he could return in a weeks time to complete the work. He then told me he had no telephone number to be contacted on, but gave me a very poorly produced business card.

With this they packed their bags and left.

I would just like to inform your readers to be on guard for any similar requests. I have found out this is a complete scam.

Kind regards

Graham Leonard

Buger