Police can call by when you are on holiday

You can sign up for the free Opération Tranquillité Vacances service via a form at tinyurl.com/yd397j8o which you take to your local police/gendarmerie with your passport and a recent electricity bill. In Paris, you must give five days’ notice, elsewhere two.

It is also advised to: close windows and shutters, ask a neighbour to collect post and avoid leaving precious objects or large sums of cash in the home.

Meanwhile police are warning of ‘fake police officers’ visiting homes to ask residents to “check valuables are safe due to a spate of local burglaries”.

Ask to see their card (Est-ce que je peux voir votre carte professionnelle?) and, if in doubt, say je vais appeler la police pour vérifier (I’m going to call the police to check) and call 17.

Police say that fake officers are likely to make off at this point but ask you report the incident.