ok, I am fine and my wallet and cash are fine but…

I was just stepping on a bus at Gare Cornavin ( main bus station Geneva ) and the person in front of my stopped short, turned around and grabbed my trouser leg. As I complained he said ( in english ) sorry and pointed down that he was just picking up his cig. packet. He then stepped off the bus.
I sat down on a seat and then it struck me what happened.. I reached for my wallet and it was missing. I immediately stepped off of the bus and confronted him and he pointed to my wallet now on the ground and said ( in english ) you dropped this.

ok, no way possible did I drop it and I know his partner lifted my wallet while he had my pant leg.

bloody hell.. I'm fine but I'm shaking right now.

I think your first mistake was going on a bus just wearing pants 🙂
Glad you're ok though.

filthy roma

no need to bring football into it

I got pickpocketed in Monaco, although my fault I shouldnt have been wearing shorts with a camera in one pocket and a wallet in the other.

My wallet was on the floor but the camera disappeared…

I think your first mistake was going on a bus just wearing pants

there is my American showing again (*zip*) I just edited that to say trousers.

*L*

Zips on pockets (or safety pins -saved my wallet on the St Petersburg Underground) if you're going somewhere busy/dodgy.

Alternatively, keep your hand on your wallet.

Never put your wallet in a back pocket.

I can't understand why a thef would risk pick-pocketing somebody getting on a bus. There obviously wouldn't be any money in it.

I can't understand why a thef would risk pick-pocketing somebody getting on a bus. There obviously wouldn't be any money in it.

sorry.. maybe in your neigbourhood.. here the no.8 bus which I was stepping on = tourists and U.N. staff.

lol @ BigJohn

Have you never read "Emil and the detectives" ?

you'd wanna use busses in geneva! a bloody cup of coffee is about a grand!

Should have kicked him in the goolies*

*now that's a little bit of retro 80's speak!

Emil?.. no can't say I have

enlighten me? ( which the pickpocket already tried to do )

enlighten me?

oh, it's a story about a kid (German) I think, who falls asleep on a train and has his wallet knicked and subsequently tracks down the thief. My memory is dim as it must be 45 years since I read it 🙂

thanks simon, I just read a bit on wiki about it.

by the way.. on a swiss'english forum this same post has descended into abit of a flaming for my use of "filthy stinking…"

aw well..

What is someone who gets mugged, pickpocketed etc doing making multiple posts on various forums instead of going to the police?

I mean, lets just say they are crap and won't do anything, what do you expect the STW massive to do?

Nick, it's called venting

yes I can just see the police reaction " I got bumped into on a bus and then someone found my wallet on the street "

ok now yes we all know the reality of what happened but what are the police going to do?

watch them?

oh please.

Malheureusement, c'est la vie.

And yes I did have to google the spelling of that.

Well they certainly are not going to do anything if you don't tell them.

What I can't understand is why they were standing there near your wallet and didn't just walk off with it?

Nick, I agree with you actually.. I should have told the police yes but sadly pickpockets are very common and especially so in that area.

why didn't they just walk off?.. I have to assume they were waiting for the safety of the bus I was on pulling away and their next target coming along.

Happened to me a fortnight ago in M&S ! Two big women in full african dress, one distracted me whilst the other rummaged in a bag I had slung over my shoulder. I clocked what the bitch was up to and they both shuffled off. They didnt get anything but ffs! Couldnt prove it and therefore didnt report it but ffs!

went to Magaluf (sp?) (Shagaluf?), on a shitty lads hliday when we were all 16-17. one of our mates got pissed early on and walked down a massivley long flight of stairs to lay on a wall beside the beach. from where we were we had a clear view of him.

he'd been laying there for ~5 mins when this group of kids come along. one thumps him in the gut, another kicks him as he falls to the floor and they rough him up and take his wallet. all this happened so quickly, but luckily one of our group had seen it happen. 6 of us ran down the stairs, bottles in our hands. we found the group of four further down the beach. two made off but unluckily for the other two we got hold of them.

a few bottles were broken over their heads, one had his trousers taken off him and thrown over a wall after we emptied the contents of them.

we made off sharpish and hailed two cabs and disappeared for the rest of the evening.

the same guy (he's only small) left work late one night and had to get the ube from Mile End to Liverpool St. That day he'd bought a new pair of trainers. as he entered the station this group of kids took the bag with the shoe box in. he said "have it, these are the old ones" so they made him take off his new shoes and they took them, too.

I got pick pocketed on the train the other day also, I'm only 4'5"! How can they stoop so low?

Coat please…yep, it's the really small one…

*LOL* I needed that.

grynch – Member

by the way.. on a swiss'english forum this same post has descended into abit of a flaming for my use of "filthy stinking…"

aw well..

well you have had that post removed and we all know you are a racist twonk now. Seems pointless to say more

TJ.. nothing was removed.. the post is there exactly as I wrote it .
and racist? perhaps.. or my views based on personal experiences.

EDIT : ahh.. I see the earlier reference was deleted… my apologies to the mods but my feelings stand.

putting an elastic band around your wallet means it cant be removed from your pocket without you feeling it (apparently)

thanks Olly, but again in this case I was distracted by the trouser grab so I don't think I would have noticed… unless the elastic was anchored 😯

Glad you're o.k grynch.

bunnyhop. thanks.. apart from a lil case of the shakes when I got back to my office.. ohhh and losing standing in the eyes of TJ I'm fine.

and on that note… have a fine w.e. all.. I'm heading off for a curry with the mrs… as I can still afford it. *L*

I intervened on wednesday this week in Barcelona on the metro system, seen this girl (looked of romany ancestory) angle inbetween 2 ladies with a coat over her arm ,i shouted over at her and she quickly walked off then shook her head at me as i walked off

STOP THIEF !!

You should have some kids, I get mugged on a daily basis. 😯

well you have had that post removed and we all know you are a racist twonk now. Seems pointless to say more

You won't have travelled the great metropolii of mainland Europe then. Sorry but the stereotype is sadly accurate…

Coyote – yes I have and almost certainly far more than you but I wouldn't use negative stereotypes. Its the generalisation that is wrong and the use of "stinking"

Still – its one of those things that if you need it explaining to you then you will never understand.

Better to call 'em thieving pikey's; no actual racial reference, just means a scumbag who prefers to make a living from stealing other peoples property while enjoying an itinerant lifestyle.

TandemJeremy – Member

Coyote – yes I have and almost certainly far more than you

sorry, tj. but how do you know you're more well travelled than Coyote? still got the passport stamps and the ticket stubs to prove it?

there's a shed load of 'undesireables' in Switzerland, and then there's the immigrants and refugees….. but, no. there really is quite a big problem with romany types half-inchin' out of peoples pockets. you see them often in munich.

i'd call them 'scum', 'stinking', 'shit-bags' if the same had happened to me.

click here 😉

TandemJeremy – Member
… but I wouldn't use negative stereotypes. Its the generalisation that is wrong and the use of "stinking"

Still – its one of those things that if you need it explaining to you then you will never understand.

TJ, then let me TRY to explain it to you…just to define my terms …
my two assailants were filthy, … and so I used the word filthy

they were stinking, and so I used the word stinking

and they were in my estimation, with absolutely no proof, of a certain ethnicity, one that I have never had a positive experience in dealing with.

It's refering to their ethnicity rather than their behaviour that's the problem, i.e. filthy stinking thieves is fine, changing thieves for Roma, is not as it reinforces racial stereotypes.

Still – its one of those things that if you need it explaining to you then you will never understand.

Let's hope you're wrong.