Former Huddersfield gymnast and pub landlord Brian Hayhurst and his wife Elaine are ex-pats who have lived just outside Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol for 20 years. He writes every week for Huddersfield Hub.

I have mentioned in the past about getting in the car wearing flip flops being an offence in Spain which attracts a fine.

I’ve never established whether you can actually drive bare-footed. I do know that it is dangerous/illegal and inadvisable to drive in ski boots, however.

Well, here are a few more – quite genuine but nonsense laws enforced by DGT – Direccion de Trafico to give the police something to do besides trying to enforce the ridiculous speed limits introduced last month!

1. Placing one arm or hand outside the car whilst in motion – 100Euro fine. And passengers must maintain a sensible position. (Suggestions on a postcard please); 

2. Blasting music in a quiet area, like a hospital – 80 to 100E;

3. Parking or driving on environmentally protected sand/beaches, you could get you a 6000E fine;

4. Whilst at a red light, fixing make up, interfering with face (nose picking!) etc -200E + 2 pts on licence;

5. Driving in left hand lane if right hand lane is free – 200E fine, according to articles 28 and 31;

6. Taking eyes off the road whilst in motion ie. Biting nails, snogging or insulting gestures at fellow drivers – 80E. Also both hands on the wheel and drivers’ ears must be visible!

7. Filling up your car with radio/music playing – 91E. What a strange amount!

These regulations along with madcap electric scooter riders, squatters, and general keeping the peace give the police much to think about as they tour around in their squad cars. Here in Fuengirola the general local police force has recently acquired a super fleet of new vehicles. I cannot imagine how they paid for them!

READ MORE: Enjoy previous columns from Brian Hayhurst here

Unfortunately, I must finish on some sad news and a tribute to a remarkable and much-admired woman here on the Costas who devoted much of her latter years to helping people with cancer.

Joan Hunt OBE was the driving force and inspiration behind a charity which supported a hospice here.

Sadly, after being cared for at the hospice she created, she passed away this week at the age of 92.

We have a lot of Huddersfield and Yorkshire friends out here who regularly attended fundraising events for the Cudeca Foundation, the only purpose-built palliative care cancer unit in Spain taking care of people in the final stages of life.

This charity became Joan’s passion after she and husband Fred retired to Benalmadena.

Joan, who we have all met several times, was very poorly as a child with septic arthritis, leaving her with a limp.

And instead of enjoying a much deserved rest and retirement, finished up looking after her husband who developed cancer, which sadly took his life.

With little or no local authority care Joan, at 65 with no language skills, decided to create, along with a doctor Marisa Martin, a hospice which started in a spare room in her house.

Joan devoted the rest of her life to improving care for cancer patients, of which there are over 1,500 each year, both in and out of the Foundation.

Land on which the hospice is built was donated by the Town Hall and with hundreds of volunteers and fundraisers – and overcoming immense obstacles – the unique unit was completed in 2003.

It was only due to the tenacity and passion of this remarkable lady that saw the project through.

Joan was awarded the in 2002 for her dedication in the community for cancer care. A truly remarkable lady indeed.