Another night of booze-fuelled excesses in Albufeira has seen a taxi firm €6000 out-of-pocket after a trio of young British ‘holidaymakers’ allegedly set about destroying the vehicle they had been travelling in.
The hoodlums began with spitting on the seats and banging on the windows, at which point the driver ordered them out, reports Correio da Manhã.
That is when the ‘attack’ got really out of hand.
The men, all in their 20s, are understood to have turned on the driver, who “managed to escape” and inform police.
By the time agents of the GNR summer intervention unit arrived, the men had broken windows with stones, kicked and punched the vehicle’s bodywork and “damaged the bumper”.
Lamenting “the violence that marks Albufeira’s nightlife”, taxi company owner José Piçarra said the car will have to be taken out of circulation pending a decision on whether or not compensation will be forthcoming.
“They had all been drinking,” he said of the men. “They were aggressive and straight away ended up in an argument with the driver.”
It was just after 5am on Sunday morning – the witching hour associated with so many horrors in the seaside town.
For now the men are reportedly due to appear in court.
Whether they do or not remains to be seen, as holidaymakers caught in skirmishes and fights have been known to leave the country without facing the consequences.
Two recent examples came in the last 12 months. Hooligans released after the three-day riots in Albufeira during the Euro 2004 football championships were due to be tried last July, but all refused point blank to show up. The trial was eventually suspended and legal limits have now been exhausted.
Earlier this year, the family of youngster Ricardo Teixeira – allegedly beaten to death by a British bouncer in Oura, Albufeira, four years ago – heard the planned murder trial could not go ahead because the bouncer had returned to UK and “disappeared”.
