Using credit cards in Spain

We had the same experience on a recent tript to South of France. When I queried it, it's because they get a lot of CC fraud on foreign cards, so it's to cover themselves & make sure you are definitely the card holder. Vic

Thanks. Interesting that on toll motorways they just swiped my card and didn't even want a signature. So I could have used a stolen credit card to flee the country! But I couldn't pay for a meal at the motorway service area without producing my passport. Nice, the consistency of all this :-(

Brian

In Norway you can travel on the rail line to Oslo airport just using your card. you swipe it at the station at each end. No PINs or ID taken. no ticket issued - you collect that form the WWW later if you need it for your expense claim.

Robert

Pretty normal in Spain - in fact, foreigners are more likely to be excused the requirement than Spaniards, since everyone knows that some crazy foreigners don't carry ID cards whereas all Spaniards do. I usually offer a UK photo driving licence, so as to avoid carting a passport around - never had it refused yet.

Yes I did wave a (non photo) driving licence at the girl at the till in Champion in Torroella de Montgri. She didn't look all that convinced, but accepted it anyway. Probably easier than having to shift all the groceries back on to the shelves :-)

Roll on chip and PIN is all I can say.

Brian

Is it not an arrestable offence in Spain (as in Italy) to be loose on the street without an ID card?

It could well be but I suspect that it's not enforced to a significant extent nowadays. With the mix of people from across the EU being free to go to any country in the EU it's likely that lots of laws like this are being ignored on a large scale. I suppose harmonisation will eventually sort things out a bit.

Yes, though I don't know if it's arrestable. I carry a colour copy of my passport, but I'd be astonished if nowadays even the most obsessive Guardia Civil member arrested a foreigner who was behaving other than outrageously, just for lack of a passport/identity card.

It might have something to do with the fact that they have a video record of your car as you pass motorway toll stations, so at least they have some chance of tracking down anyone committing fraud.

I noticed that the pay machines in some car parks in the UK also just require you to swipe your card, but there again there is a record of the car associated with that ticket.

I guess its just a matter of weighing up the benefits of a quicker transaction against the chances of being able to catch those using stolen cards.

Chris

It's treated in Italy as the "sus" laws used to be used here. They want to arrest you, but can't be bothered/haven't got the evidence to arrest you for a crime. No identity card? That will do nicely.