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Pick pocketed in Genoa , suitcase stollen from the bus

How do you contact the police in Genoa. Have tried and as we are Australians and speak only English they hang up. We need to report this for our insurance! Besides wanting to warn people about the pushing and shoving to get on travel buses. Warn people that at various stops it is best to get off and watch your bags under the coach so that no one takes yours!

Posted by
24 posts

I don't speak italian, far from that, but you can follow this small script, if you want. Whatever's on the phone or at a station, I think they'll answer you:

"Buon giorno (or pomeriggio, or sera), sono stato ne una rapina. Bisogno di aiuto con il rapporto della polizia, per la burocrazia dell'assicurazione. Voi potere aiutar me? Qualcuno parla anglese nell'stazione? Parlo molto poco italiano. Grazie mille"

Translates to "Good morning, I got robbed. I need help with the police report, for the burocracy of the insurance. Can you help me? Someone speaks english at the station? I speak very little italian. Thanks very much"

I surely made a couple of ortographic and gramatical mistakes there, but I think you'll be able to communicate porperly with that sentence.

Good luck, friend

Posted by
6264 posts

Barbara, how terrible! Are you staying in a hotel or a hostel? There should be someone there who can help you with the police. Or try a TI.

Posted by
286 posts

I am so sorry to hear this happened to you. How aggravating. We are planning a stay in Genoa and the Italian Riviera next year, so I appreciate your warning. We recently got back from a trip to Florence and Siena, and never had a problem putting our luggage in the cargo space on the buses, so now we will be more cautious. I will be curious to hear how your trip went when you return from that area. I hope you will enjoy the rest of your trip despite this happening.

Posted by
26829 posts

I second the idea of asking either your hotel or the tourist office to point you in the right direction. You need to know which police station you can go to that will have an English-speaker available.

I assume you've penciled this out and determined that the loss exceeds the deductible on your insurance and is therefore worth the aggravation and time it will take now and when you return home to file an insurance claim.

I've very sorry this happened to you. I've been pick-pocketed multiple times, had my purse snatched twice, and had someone enter my (occupied) hotel room and grab my purse. No matter what the details, feels like a violation. And it is certainly worse if someone takes your stuff when you are in a foreign country. I just lost one wallet in Europe; all the other unhappy events occurred in the US. (But I never filed an insurance claim for any of those losses, the largest being about $175 in 2015.)

Posted by
7730 posts

Sounds like you should be asking the lodging for help immediately;
Yes unfortunately the picket pocket stuff happens you just can't let your guard down;
this is frequent topic here and covered in most guide books.

Posted by
15677 posts

Yes, see if your lodgings can help you contact the authorities.

I'm a little confused: were you pickpocketed AND your bag taken or was it just the bag?

Posted by
23177 posts

This isn't perfect but we try to sit in seats overlooking the baggage storage area. However, the probability of us moving fast enough to prevent a theft is low. We have ridden a lot of buses with no problems but there is always a first time.

Posted by
15041 posts

You can start the procedure with a police report of the theft online below:
https://extranet.carabinieri.it/DenunciaWeb/denuncia.aspx

Sorry but it's in Italian only. That's the official language of Italy what can I say. See if some local can help you.

Once you submit it they will release a confirmation code. Within two days you will be asked to show up at the closest Carabinieri station of your choice to officially sign.

That will provide the record your insurance will need.

I just want to extend sympathy to you. It's no fun getting scammed and even worse while traveling. Check with the bus company also, if you can.

Posted by
792 posts

Roberto, that link willl easily translate to english if one uses Google Chrome as the browser

Posted by
11613 posts

I would check with the bus company, too, on the off chance that someone took it by mistake and turned it in.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you everyone for your help. The wallet was stolen at the bus stop in Genoa and we had to get on the bus! Very crowded pushing etc. perfect for a pick pocket person. The suitcase was taken during one of 3 stops and only discovered by us as we were to change buses 3 stops into the journey. Once again we only had €8 and had to get on the next bus.
The bus company will not answer us but we continue to try. It was a Flix bus. No checking ID of people taking clearly tagged bags!!!

The lose of some of my treasured things will take a while to get over! Honesty has always been my mantra so I am still in shock! It has made our trip very difficult trying to get money sent etc!!! Thsnks Barbara

Posted by
11613 posts

Barbara, if you are still traveling and have an Amex card, they will wire you a specific amount of emergency money (amount may depend on type of card).

Posted by
15677 posts

Barbara, I hope everything gets sorted for you. Do let us know?

A couple of tips for the rest of your trip, though?

Never put a wallet with cards and large amounts of cash into an exterior pocket or a purse. Keep these items - including your passports - buried under your clothing where they are not visible and light fingers can't reach them. Assume there may be eyes watching where you are keeping your valuables and how easy those may be to get to.

Split your cash and cards between you so if one C.C. or ATM card or stash of cash is lost or stolen, you have a backup.

One of you should stay with your bags until they've been stowed beneath the bus. Some buses require you to stow your own, and we watch until other bags have been placed in front of ours. And yes, get off and watch unloading as well.

Posted by
1929 posts

Yes, Barbara, lesson learned, albeit a tough one. My sympathies.

That was one of the very reasons I've eschewed bus tours in Europe. Too darn easy for pilferage, and what a P.I.T.A. to get off at every stop to watch your own bag like a hawk. Even on European trains, if the overhead racks are full (has happened but not often at all) and I must put my bag in a receptacle in between cars, I'm up at every stop watching, especially because those spaces are right by the train door. If my bag is right above me, I don't have to lock it to the rack (as some ridiculously do) and I can travel easy.

And this is easier to do off-season when trains are less full.

Posted by
15677 posts

If my bag is right above me, I don't have to lock it to the rack (as
some ridiculously do)

LOL, Jay. We do have a compact, retractable cable and have used it a couple of times on regionale trains when our bags were some distance from our seats and things smelled a 'lil funky: a few panhandlers randomly hopping on and off those particular trains. It's rare but when radar is muttering, "Hmmmm...", why the heck not.

But I've seen some folks do it with chains as thick as my arm, I swear. THAT is overkill! :O)
No, we don't cable if our stuff is with us but we don't snooze on regionales with unsecured bags either.

Posted by
26829 posts

If fairness to Flix, I have never, ever seen any bus-company employee policing removal of bags from a bus. In the last two years alone, I must have taken around 200 inter-city buses in Europe. I've never worried about my luggage on a bus. I use a distinctively colored but relatively inexpensive suitcase, so I don't see why anyone in Europe would think it was worth stealing. Now, in poorer parts of the world...

I don't know whether I'm deluded or lucky. The closest I've come to losing a bag was in the US, when a fellow-traveler grabbed my generic-looking bag at the airport, thinking it belonged to his wife.

However, this incident has caused me to think about moving my prescription medicines out of the suitcase on travel days.

Posted by
3200 posts

I sit on the storage side of the bus so I can watch at stops, or I'd get off the bus if I couldn't sit on that side. I have that Risk Management background, which doesn't seem to disappear in 'retirement'. People are people where ever we are, and unfortunately, there are always some desperate people. I never keep anything in my suitcase that I can't afford to be without, if that suitcase is going to be separated from me at any point...so, never during location changes.

Posted by
1097 posts

Oh, what a terrible experience! And not to pile on with the "should haves" but I never travel with anything I'd be heartbroken over losing. I only wear my wedding band (no diamond) and I don't take any other items that I have to worry about. Even if I lose a phone or camera, that's replaceable. Hopefully the rest of your trip will make up for this traumatic beginning!

Posted by
7977 posts

I imagine sitting in view of the luggage pay would just mean you could watch your bag carried away.

Always use a money belt when traveling on public transport with all your money, ID etc. It is a body safe under your clothes. Have only one credit card and walking around money in a more accessible place but not an outer pocket or wallet. I get travel clothing with hidden zipped inner pockets.

Never use lock cables on trains as this blocks access for others who need to get on an off the train quickly. On regional trains if your bag is too large to store over your seat, get up at stops and monitor the rack. Note that on trains, thieves board as if passengers and will grab purses, computer bags etc as they walk down the car. We once sat across from a women who had her purse taken from her seat as she put her bag in the overhead compartment right above her seat. These thieves are pros.

What bad luck to lose both wallet and bag on the same bus trip.

Posted by
15677 posts

Never use lock cables on trains as this blocks access for others who
need to get on an off the train quickly.

Janet, we unlock the cable before the train arrives in the station. And ours unlocks very quickly because we only change 1 number of the code. It's the people with the 28" bags that slow everyone down!

Posted by
1929 posts

Kath, I'd like to be a fly on the wall of the train the day you try to yank the bag down with the cable still attached!

Another reason I'm a proponent of off-season travel--more of a chance of overhead rack room. And, another reason I'm a fan of 'packing light, packing right'. Smaller bag, less footprint on the overhead rack. But you're right about the regionales--they're maybe a little 'worser' in Italy from my experience than in France or Switzerland. I was definitely skeevy about sitting even eight feet away from the receptacle in between cars, with the car door closed to boot. I move fast, but not when some wastrel would jump on at a stop, grab a random bag and run for the hills!

Posted by
15677 posts

Jay. Dude. We only cable when when the 24-inchers end up in the front racks on some regionales. Carryons are always with us, on floor by our feet, usually.

Yeah, we take 24-inchers. Yeah, I know; no Rickniks in that regard. I've already ducked a few flying pomodoro. :O)

Posted by
752 posts

That's why I don't put bags in bus cargo. I travel with one RS 20-inch rolling carryon, weighing No more than 15 pounds. I can lift it to the overhead rack or put it on the floor next to me in the seat, sideways it takes little space.

Neck wallet and money belt complete my outfit!

I was involved only once in pushing and shoving onto buses, outside Termini, headed to the airport. The crowd was a Mob, I never did get on any of the buses, leading me to believe that the ticket sellers were running a scam, especially when I saw a short time limit on my ticket!

There weren't enough buses for all the tickets sold in that time limit! So I took the loss and bought a train ticket. I take the train over the bus wherever I can.

Posted by
10116 posts

I don't know whether I'm deluded or lucky.

I think you've been lucky, acraven, with 200 bus rides in Europe under your belt. It appears in this unfortunate case, the couple was targeted and probably by the same person for both thefts.

Very, very sorry.