[Anonymous]

[Prof.Gupta]

Having been robbed on a street in London, I lost my shoulder bag containing large amount of money, other valuables, and my passport. It was one of the worst nightmare coming true. Having struggled with filing a report with the Police, I approached Indian High Commission in the evening of 4th May and having finished the formalities, I was given a new passport in the evening of 5th May. As I and my family were to travel to paris and them Amsterdam and as I lost my Schengen visa, we approached Consulate of France (whose Mumbai office had issued me the original visa). It was one of the worst experience one could have. Security officer at the gate did not allow us to speak to anyone in the consulate (as we had no normal appointment) and asked us to leave. I searched their website but there was no mention of any emergency or unusual circumstances and who to approach. Indian High Commission even gave us a letter for the consulate with all the details and request for help but it was of no use. All the telephone numbers available on their website only played recorded messages and no one picked those lines. Next day morning (5th may) we again approached the consuate to be treated badly once again. Now the security officer said that unless they get a letter/fax from their office im Mumbai they could do nothing. I managed to organise someone to go to French Consulate in India but he was not entertained and he was told that unless their office in London wrote to them theu could do nothing. We were to travel to paris on 7th May and we were running out of time. My travel agent also sent out e-mails to these consulates asking for help. I had copies of my lost passport, copy of the visa, new passport, crime reference number from Police, original passports and visa with my family but no help was available. We also went to Embassy of France if something could be done but we were turned away from the gate. Having lost all hope we had to give up. We stayed back in London for another two days till we managed to get our return tickets changed and had to fly back to India with all our money lost and all travel plans going for a toss. Wish there were better ways in which such cases could be handled. I did receive an intimation from French consulate later (that we should approach them for visa) but by then it was too late as we had changed our tickets to fly back and all our travel tickets, hotel stay in Paris and Amsterdam already lost having not been able to leave for Paris on 7th. Consulates are in the best situation to decide how to deal with people but my experience has been far from satisfactory. I have written a details mail to Embassies of France in India and UK and hope someone looks at the issues raised by me so that other do not suffer in future. I also do not know what more we could have done to find a solution to our problem. Gupta

[MartynSinclair]

Prof Gupta

It may be sensible to make all your postings about this incident under one topic/heading. That way it is likely to attract more attention.

This is just a suggestion.

Martyn

[Prof.Gupta]

I thought that it was better to keep them separate as the agencies involved were different. I have now posted most of what I wanted to share and there would be nothing more on this as of now. Best regards.

[MartynSinclair]

Please do spread the word about this forum and keep us posted if you hear from the hotel. Thank you for all your contributions. Good luck

[SimonRowberry]

Prof Gupta,

You’ve had a pretty hard time. I’m sorry to hear about your problems and hope that things improve.

Simon

[Prof.Gupta]

Thank you so much for your kind words and sympathy. Yes this was a bad trip and hope I never have another one like this in my life. I will look forward to my visit once again (to London) and have pleasant experiences. Best regards. Nirmal Gupta

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