Briton hits back as car park muggers strike

Majorca's hit-and-run car park thieves have struck again, but this time the quick thinking British victim struck back and managed to save her handbag as the shocked duo fled with her purse. Margaret Mace, who is in her sixties and has lived in Majorca for a great many years, has now been mugged three times and each occasion she has fallen victim to the thieves which roam the capital's supermaket car parks. However, now much the wiser after her previous experiences, she tries to be extra careful. Mrs Mace said yesterday that the two men struck as she was parking her car in an underground supermarket car park in San Agustin. “A large new white car, looked like a Megane, pulled up next to me and one man went one side of my car while the other came to the other side. “My bag was on the floor in the back,” she said, adding that she quickly realised what was happening. As soon as the thieves had grabbed her hand bag, she managed to get a grip on it and finally managed to rip her bag back from the two men. In the struggle they managed to slip out her purse, but Mrs Mace said there was no money in it and the credit cards were cancelled immediately. “I was very lucky, it was a lucky escape, they nearly ran me over in their car”, she said. “Fortunately they did not seem to be vicious chaps, just very shocked by my reaction.” “I did hurt my arm though and I was wearing a rather expensive watch which they did not see”, she added. Mrs Mace also pointed out that so many of her “girl friends” have been mugged in car parks and that, while little can be done, it is a sad state of affairs. “They always seem to target elderly people, they must watch the cars or something”, she said. Mrs Mace's unfortunate experience merely highlights the high level of criminal activity in large public car parks in and around Palma. Her story is one of many which have been reported to the police and to the Bulletin, it is the second in the past week, and reinforces the need for people to always be on their guard and keep their eyes open.