Holiday arrests soar for Brits abroad

Updated 06.26 Tue Aug 12 2008
Keywords: france, USA, UAE, spain, cyprus, foriegn office, british, tourist, abroad, holidaymaker, travel, arrest

Badly behaved Brits abroad are being arrested in their droves, figures show.

Foreign Office data reveals the soaring number of arrests in Spain and France.

"By carrying out some simple research on the laws, customs and health requirements of a country in advance, many people could prevent their holidays being ruined" - Meg Munn

Between April 2006 and March 2007 2,032 Britons were arrested in Spain, a rise of a third more than in 2005/06 and the highest number of any country visited.

The Foreign Office said that many of the arrests were due to "behaviour caused by excessive drinking".

Only 153 Britons were arrested in France, but that was a rise of almost a half on the previous 12 months.

The most likely destination for Britons to be arrested was Cyprus, then the USA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), when arrests were taken as a proportion of the number of Britons who travelled there.

Two Britons are currently facing jail terms after they were allegedly caught having sex on a beach in Dubai, UAE.

Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors were arrested for indecent behaviour in public and after a police officer reportedly saw them in a compromising position on Jumeirah Beach.

The Foreign Office statistics also revealed 1,591 British travellers died in Spain, more than in anywhere else abroad, 385 Britons died in France and 294 died in Greece.

Nearly 700 British visitors to Spain needed to go to hospital in 2006/07 and 600 visitors sought hospital treatment in Greece.

Foreign Office minister Meg Munn said: "This report highlights what can go wrong on holiday.

"It is a reminder to all that taking out comprehensive travel insurance is a crucial part of your holiday planning and not something that should be sacrificed in order to save a few pounds.

"Helping British nationals in distress overseas is one of our most important tasks but many of the problems faced by holidaymakers are preventable.

"By carrying out some simple research on the laws, customs and health requirements of a country in advance, many people could prevent their holidays being ruined."

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