Frankfurt Main Hbf - Pickpockets

[jon0844]

Back in the mid-1970s, when I was working in the London area, the area around Kings Cross and St Pancras was exceedingly dodgy....with prostitution and drug dealing very much in evidence. Argyle Square and the streets leading off it were full of seedy little hotels in which rooms could be hired by the hour. All that changed when Eurostar arrived at St Pancras in 2007 and the area was 'gentrified' seemingly overnight. Many of those seedy hotels have now become luxurious and expensive 'boutique' establishments catering for foreign tourists travelling by Eurostar.

Gentrified drugs and prostitution these days.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jun 2024 ==

Experience has shown that usually if you offer to buy a beggar what they say they want, they will do a runner, but on this occasion he was happy for me to do so, so I went with him to the ticket office and bought him a ticket with my debit card. At least then he couldn't run off with the money and spend it on drink or drugs

I recall at King's Cross (before the new concourse was built) that people would use that as a line to say 'Buy me a ticket and then you know I'm not lying!' and would then go and get a refund afterwards. This was more a time when people bought tickets with cash, as now I'd assume it not possible to get cash back for a ticket paid for with a card. Maybe you'd get vouchers, but not actual cash.

It was also a time when there was a big trade in reselling one day travelcards.

 

[Ringo2112]

If I'm ever stopped or a beggar comes up to me, I just say I don't carry cash, just a credit card .( I don't, but it works and they split right away)

 

[furnessvale]

If I'm ever stopped or a beggar comes up to me, I just say I don't carry cash, just a credit card .( I don't, but it works and they split right away)

How long befor one whips out a PDQ machine?

 

[bspahh]

The first thing anyone should do when they buy a new coat or jacket is have zips put on all the pockets.

That straight away reduces the risk considerably.

Zipped coat pockets are good, so stuff doesn't fall out when you take the coat off, but I wouldn't use them for valuables, as you are likely to take the coat off, and then it could be nicked.

For my passport, I find the zipped security pocket in Rohan trousers the best. They aren't cheap at list price. If you wait for sales, then you can get them for half price, or less from eBay. They have various styles. Some look like you have been hiking. The fabrics are great - durable, easy to wash and quick to dry.

For example, if I need to hand wash them in a hotel room, if I wring them, roll them in a towel and stand on the towel, they will be dry in a few hours.

 

[duesselmartin]

If I'm ever stopped or a beggar comes up to me, I just say I don't carry cash, just a credit card .( I don't, but it works and they split right away)

offering to buy is really a good solution, esp in the UK where cash is less common.
A year ago in King's X, a homeless looking person asked me to buy him something to eat. I met him again the next day and he thanked me again without asking for more. So it is worth it even if it is a scam in 99 out of 100 cases.

 

[D6130]

There is a well-dressed, polite, but painfully thin young lady who hangs around in the station booking hall at Arezzo in Tuscany begging for money or helping gullible foreigners to use the ticket machines in return for a small fee. 'I'm so hungry! Look how thin I am! Please help me buy food!' One day I became fed-up with her pestering me while trying to buy a ticket....so I said 'OK. I'll take you to the station buffet and buy you a pizza....but I'm not prepared to pay for your drugs'. She slunk off muttering a good selection of Italian swear words and has never bothered me again. It does help though to have a little knowledge of the local language, wherever you are.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

as you are likely to take the coat off

I don't - when I'm out and about, the coat ( winter ) or jacket ( summer ) stays on all day...

Zipped trouser pockets are good, yes - but I doubt any trousers could realistically have the number of pockets that a coat or jacket does?

 

[Gloster]

My method is much simpler: I look such a walking disaster than even the dodgiest pickpocket will think I am not worth the trouble. One more practical method is to look as if you know where you are going: don’t wander around with your mouth open and a tourist map held up in front of you.

 

[Iskra]

My method is much simpler: I look such a walking disaster than even the dodgiest pickpocket will think I am not worth the trouble. One more practical method is to look as if you know where you are going: don’t wander around with your mouth open and a tourist map held up in front of you.

Yes, not looking like a tourist is probably the best option in my opinion, which is why the coat/jacket advice above is a bit questionable as in a hot country that marks you out as a tourist straight away. Large numbers of pockets may attract unwanted attention too.

Awareness is key, anyone getting close to you is suspicious and certainly anyone who makes contact with you. I also walk fast, so anyone who is keeping pace with me is automatically suspect.

If you need to stop for any reason, such as working out directions, always put your back to a wall.

 

[scragend]

I do the look-like-you-know-what-you're-doing thing as well. If I need to follow some directions from Google Maps for example, I look at the map, memorise the first few turns then put my phone away and walk. When I can't remember the way anymore I duck into a side street or somewhere out of the way, check the next bit and carry on.

 

[bspahh]

Yes, not looking like a tourist is probably the best option in my opinion, which is why the coat/jacket advice above is a bit questionable as in a hot country that marks you out as a tourist straight away. Large numbers of pockets may attract unwanted attention too.

If its cold enough outside to wear a coat, you will overheat inside if you keep the coat on. If you take the coat off, then valuables in the coat pocket are vulnerable.

I stayed in the Frankfurt 25 Hours hotel in March last year. It is in a back street a quarter of a mile from the station. I got there about 11pm, and didn't notice anything particularly dodgy about the neighbourhood. I think it was raining, so perhaps that meant that it was quieter than normal.

 

[peteb]

I think wandering round face in a phone is probably the easiest way to get robbed, of the phone if nothing else.

I try to memorise a route from a large station whilst still on the train, so I don't need to follow Google maps, at least till I'm somewhere a bit more salubrious.

Having a paper interrail is handy because you need to go to a staffed exit point where there are barriers. I did get a bit fed up tapping in and out in London's underground using s credit card. I'd prefer it if we could have a German style card on the phone, valid all local transport. That phone only came out for DB on train ticket checks.

Weirdly we thought Frankfurt HBF was ok, got a decent meal early evening, no dodgy characters to be seen....

 

[alex397]

Yes - Brussels Midi has been a bit "interesting" for decades (I regularly used to visit an organisation based in Brussels in the '70s and '80s, via ferry and train). And the exit on one side of it, at least, still seems a bit hairy today within a block or so.

The past couple of times in Brussels I have stayed at the Ibis (incidentally along Rue d’Angleterre) and I’ve specifically asked for a room overlooking Gare du Midi. For me, it was a fantastic view of the variety of trains passing, watching the busy tram terminal as well as the buses (STIB/MIVB, De Lijn and TEC buses). But it’s certainly an interesting view of the human activity too, especially when I was looking out the window at the final tram departures of the evening. Saw some obvious drug dealing, homeless people arguing, and vandals graffitiing the station.
I was glad to be in the safety of my hotel! That ibis has prominent security guards which I haven’t noticed so much in other of their hotels.
I’ll say I’ve never had major issues myself at Midi, apart from an aggressive beggar who wouldn’t let me pass. But it seems the area around the upper tram stop (which constantly stinks of urine) is where you really need to keep your wits about you! Lots of strange behaviour and begging there, and this is where my friend had their passport stolen.

Frankfurt certainly seems a bit dodgy around the station, but I haven’t had issues myself. Going to Frankfurt was one of my first trips abroad as an adult, maybe in about 2018 I think, I stayed in a Leonardo hotel by the station and had no issues. It felt a bit dodgier when I was there for a few hours last year though. Incredibly, I had my wallet hanging out my unzipped jacket pocket while walking outside the station and on a tram ride, and it wasn’t pinched! I think I was very lucky….

For me, nothing comes close to the dodginess of Paris. It’s the only place I’ve felt fearful for my safety. Largely around the main stations, on the metro, and especially just outside the metro stations where gangs were clearly up to no good - where they all stand at the stairway corners and at the exits.
I’ve also had beggars grabbing me by my arm to try and get me to give money, and someone followed me while shouting some nonsense at me. I’m certainly in no rush to re-visit Paris!

 

[Wolfie]

Back in the mid-1970s, when I was working in the London area, the area around Kings Cross and St Pancras was exceedingly dodgy....with prostitution and drug dealing very much in evidence. Argyle Square and the streets leading off it were full of seedy little hotels in which rooms could be hired by the hour. All that changed when Eurostar arrived at St Pancras in 2007 and the area was 'gentrified' seemingly overnight. Many of those seedy hotels have now become luxurious and expensive 'boutique' establishments catering for foreign tourists travelling by Eurostar.

Yup. The film Mona Lisa was spot on with its portrayal of KX in the 70/80s.

The areas around most major Italian city stations are generally bloody rough. My ex was born in the UK but was of Italian origin. We were bloody grateful that the Carabinieri (who were deployed seeking illegal immigrants, so document checks etc) clocked the bloke trying to follow her into the Ladies loo on Pisa station. Whether the motive was robbery or worse wasn't clear.....

 

[jon0844]

I feel Gare du Nord is a lot nicer and cleaner now, especially since they've made the pedestrian areas bigger around the front, but you certainly do need to avoid eye contact.

There are still beggars, but less of the people asking you for a taxi or trying to sell duty-free cigarettes or even drugs.

I think it's actually nicer to exit at street level and walk somewhere than try and use the metros from there though. There are perhaps more people to watch out for lingering around there than the outside. In years gone by, there was NO good place to be and you were accosted as soon as you exited your Eurostar.

 

[700007]

I've never had an issue with Gare du Nord in Paris personally but I find that the suburbs of Paris tend to be a bit more run down and can attract anti-social behaviour. I find, as a city in general, Brussels to be very grotty for what it's worth. The area around Midi/Zuid seems to be poorly lit at night, often dirty and unkempt and with minimal police presence which attracts people of 'the wrong sorts'. The metro as well I find is also not the nicest particularly on lines 2/6.

Within the UK, I think most major London terminal stations are generally not too bad for anti social behaviour and as someone who works a lot of overnight turns and travels through the night as a result I don't feel scared or intimidated. The only place that sticks out as being a bit rough at night particularly in the colder months when night life takes a hit is Charing Cross and the area surrounding Trafalgar Square. A lot of homeless people tend to live there and can aggressively beg sometimes. I have even, on rare occasions, seen homeless people attempt to rob or even beat up one another particularly in the undesirable underpass linking Charing Cross NR and tube stations.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jun 2024 ==

I wrote the last comment as I was on a Eurostar TGV service, and a few minutes after posting we were coming into Antwerp and the train manager came and said 'please beware of pickpockets as you travel through Belgium as there has been a notable increase in theft as of late'

 

[rvdborgt]

I wrote the last comment as I was on a Eurostar TGV service, and a few minutes after posting we were coming into Antwerp and the train manager came and said 'please beware of pickpockets as you travel through Belgium as there has been a notable increase in theft as of late'

That's not a problem "as of late" but has been a problem for decades at least, especially at stations with long stops, or where multiple stops are close together, e.g. Brussels or Antwerp.

 

[alex397]

Maybe I shouldn’t have read this thread before my Austria/Slovakia trip next week! Though I’ve never had anything serious happen to me, so there’s no reason why I’d suddenly be attacked or mugged!

It’s interesting that the issues at main stations appears worse on the continent than in the UK, even though we appear to have less police. Our gated system may contribute to this, though I rarely feel unsafe outside the stations either. The continent generally seems to have a worse problem with pickpockets and aggressive beggars, but I find the UK has much worse problems with yob culture. Going out in the evenings kn the continent feels safe and cultured, whereas the evenings in UK towns feels very rowdy. Youth crime appears worse here too - I’ve yet to see the sort of yob culture on the continent where groups of kids go around assaulting people and vandalising - no doubt it happens, but I’ve yet to see it myself. In quaint pretty Canterbury, I’ve reported groups of youths plenty of times, such as punching a German girl in the face, randomly deciding to smash up a shop. Recently a doctor was walking through the city and someone randomly punched him in the face. All this seems to be done for pure fun. It’s the unprovoked and completely random nature of UK anti-social behaviour that scares me more than the aggressive beggars on the continent. I find if you’re streetwise and keep your head down, and don’t look like a tourist, you’re likely to be pretty safe

 

[700007]

That's not a problem "as of late" but has been a problem for decades at least, especially at stations with long stops, or where multiple stops are close together, e.g. Brussels or Antwerp.

This was what the TM said funny enough - stations with long stops attracts a lot of pickpockets as they go subtly through the belongings of unsuspecting passengers and make off with their earnings before the train leaves.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 30 Jun 2024 ==

That's not a problem "as of late" but has been a problem for decades at least, especially at stations with long stops, or where multiple stops are close together, e.g. Brussels or Antwerp.

This was what the TM said funny enough - stations with long stops attracts a lot of pickpockets as they go subtly through the belongings of unsuspecting passengers and make off with their earnings before the train leaves.

 

[Dougal2345]

When abroad I don't keep anything of value in my pockets. Passport, cash and cards are kept in the side pocket of a laptop-sized shoulder bag, the side which rests against my body - strap over opposite shoulder so it can't easily be grabbed away. 'Phone in main part of bag. Bag always goes down by my feet on trains, never in the racks, and I keep the long strap looped over my knee...

Just passed through Brussels Midi to-day, the concourse is a depressing place, dimly lit, with black ceiling and dark grey floor tiles. If they could brighten that up a bit maybe it would drive out some of the ne'er-do-wells... LED lighting isn't that expensive to run these days!