Property Stolen From Parked Vehicle in France

LowerO

We were returning from France yesterday having enjoyed Christmas there. We stopped for 20 minutes at a supermarket to buy some lunch provisions. On returning to the car we noticed that all the bags had fallen over in the back of the car, but assumed they had fallen by themselves. On a tight timescale for the ferry we headed off. However, were suspicious about the bags and stopped at a motorway toilet station. On looking it was apparent that items had been stolen - one bag in particular containing camera equipment and a work Blackberry.

Being in France, away from the site of the original theft, and on a tight timescale for the ferry we decided to continue.

I cancelled the Blackberry immediately on return to UK. This morning I called Direct Line to claim on home insurance. The claims handler was very friendly and efficient and there is no doubt that my home policy covers the items stolen (comes to about £1200 in total). However, we didn't report the theft to the French police...

(1) We didn't actually realise the theft until we had left the supermarket car park.
(2) I don't speak French very well (certainly not well enough to explain the situation to someone).

Is there any advice that anyone can offer in this situation - either putting my mind at rest that having not advised the police will not invalidate my claim, or can I advise the police through an alternative route?

Thanks in advance.

SkippyB

Hi

You can report the theft to your local police here, but the Police will not investigate this as it does not fall under british jurisdiction. The insurance company should be ok with this as people find it very hard to report crime when abroad due to language barriers. However, you should always try and report the theft when abroad...

http://www.fco.gov.uk/Files/KFile/VictimsOfCrime,0.pdf

You can report crimes online via....

http://www.online.police.uk/english/default.asp

Hope this helps

LowerO

Thanks SkippyB - wish there was an equivalent online reporting site for France. Helpful and encouraging post.