Silence in Finestrat

We all know what the best things are about living in Spain; the weather, the food, the style of life and in Benidorm, the entertainment. The worst thing we could think of, apart from the paperwork, was the noise of some 15-year-old nit-wit on an unsilenced moped riding past your bedroom at four in the morning.

Well, help is at hand in Finestrat where all owners of mopeds more than two years old must pass a sound emission test helped by the local police's mobile testing units. From 20th February it will be prohibited to use a noisy moped in the entire Comunidad de Valencia and police will be empowered to immobilise any such vehicle found on the roads. We think this is great news. Now, about that paperwork……..

7 February 2005 Stephen White.