As everyone feared, the decision to grant bail to three booze-filled Brits who caused over €6000 worth of damage to an Albufeira taxi last weekend gave them the chance they needed.
The 20-somethings – none of whom have been named in the press – all promptly skipped the country, leaving the taxi firm whose cab was badly damaged holding the bill.
“It’s an outrage,” owner José Piçarra told reporters. “This is not justice. If they had been detained until they appeared in court, none of this would have happened.
“This way they escape, and I am left with the damages. All the work the GNR did to arrest them was also worth nothing,” he added.
Piçarra had spent the morning in court, awaiting the trio’s arrival, along with the taxi driver who the group had apparently tried to attack.
He has repeatedly said that the damage to his cab will cost him at least €6000 to put right.
As far as national tabloid Correio da Manhã could discover, the holidaymakers were all due to fly out of Faro airport on the morning they were due in court in Albufeira – but they checked out of their hotel early, very possibly to avoid any chance of being stopped from skipping Portuguese justice.
