BB FANS

I went to London on Friday to visit some friends. As I left Victoria Station I was approached by a Polish guy who made polite conversation for about 3 minutes and then hit me and threw me to the ground and ran off with my handbag.

There were 3 men walking by at the time, and they chased after him and got my bag back and basically sat on him until the police arrived. But the strangest thing is that it was a Polish man who attacked me and then (a complete co-incidence) it was 3 other Polish men who saw what had happened, gave chase and brought my bag back.

I'm fine, I wasn't hurt, just a bit shaken and grateful that there were some 'good samaritans' around.

Anything like that ever happened to you?

That is terrible Spex how awful for you. I hope you are ok. My mum was once sitting at a red light and someone smashed her window and stole her handbag from behind her seat. Apparently it's called 'jamming' and is classed as a mugging. She was driving a BMW and apparently they target bigger cars. She never got her bag back and her credit cards were used but most important to her was the loss of her precious photos of her with her dad who had died a few years before.

Best wishes to you and hope you're ok. Well done to the heroes of the day too!

I'm fine thanks Boop (I is a tough old bird ) but something similar happened to my husbands dad once. I didn't know there was a name for it but they smashed his window and stole his briefcase. What really sucks is that my father in law has Alzheimers and it was the final thing that stopped him from going to work anymore. At that point he was only in the early stages but I think it made him lose his confidence.

I hope your mum wasn't too traumatised by it?

Thankfully nothing like that. Glad your ok.

I did encounter one of the local druggies when I was 15 who along with his mate was out looking to cause trouble ,but apart from some pushing and shoving he gave up and went to help his mate who had found someone who wasn't able to stand their ground and was trying to hold the other person's head in the road as traffic passed by.

Still enough to shake anybody up and effect your confidence to go out along.

These days if I know I have to walk in poorly lit areas or places where incidences have happened recently I take the precaution of wearing body armour and have a modern light weight stab vest that can be worn over a tee-shirt so is otherwise hidden. The modern ones are very flexible and are very comfortable.

It's a sad reflection of todays living that the public even need to consider the need of body armour .Since my brother encounter trouble while working he now carries a vest with him at work and his work colleagues want them and think they due to the conditions they often have to work in that they should be supplied from their employer.

Glad your ok and hope it hasn't dented your confidence too much.

That's terrible Spex about your father in law and his illness.

My mum was very shaken up to begin with. At the time and coincidentalythere was a documentry about womens' safety in cars and a woman had invented this 'man in a briefcase' Basically you dress it and it really looks like there is another passenger in the car. It plugged into the cigarette lighter and inflated. it gave mum increased confidence without a doubt in the early days. She stopped using it when my daughter who was about 4 at the time said ''my granny has a blow up doll''

That sounds horrible Spex. Glad you're OK and that there were people there who helped.

Nope - and I wish that anything like that never happens to anyone. It must have been horrible situation, Spex, and you're so lucky that you're fine after all! For me these kind of situations happens usually the way that something happens after I have left the place or something had happened before I arrive. I've also been in places where has been possibilities of beginning of violent crime, but somehow it hasn't begun, maybe because of instincs that understand premonitory signs.

Sorry to hear that Spex. It must have really shaken you up.
I haven't been in that situation but I got flashed at in a park when I was quite a young teenager and that was pretty scary at the time.

Thanks all - I'm fine. Could have been so much worse. I should have shaken my tussock at him! That would have seen him off!

I also got flashed at when I was a young teenager. I was standing at a bus stop waiting for a bus when a car pulled up. I thought he was going to ask the directions to somewhere, so I went towards the car to hear what he was saying and then he flashed at me. I was so shocked and I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there and prayed that the bus would hurry up and come. I have never been so relieved to see a bus in all my life, but it really shook me up at the time!!

Sorry to hear this happened to you, Spex.

Horribly sneaky thing for the guy to do, but good to know that his compatriots behaved in a very decent fashion.