I drove past a carseat, I didn't stop...

[user1468508742]

This is probably going to sound really odd but I'm not really sure who else to ask.

I was driving relatively late last night, around 9:30pm, through a country road, so it's very quiet and surrounded by lots of trees. I saw a carseat, which looked quite new, it definitely wasn't just dumped there.

I couldn't see inside it, as there was a blanket. I'm not sure if anyone else has heard of the thing where people use their small children or pretend there's a carseat with a child in it or whatever so someone goes and helps? But then gets raped? I have heard of it before, I don't remember when but I do know my mum told me about it as a teenager.

All I thought about was that and wanted to get off that road asap. I get home and thought about it a couple of times and thought there's no way would someone actually leave their baby there and if it wasn't some kind of trap, it was obvious that maybe it was just dumped. I drove past there this morning, it was gone... Nothing there. Now I am worried that a) it was a child and has now been taken, to a safe or unsafe place. Or b) it was a trap and that it will be out to get more people.

Honestly, am I just completely blowing this out of proportion?

[BlueLeopard]

I would have rang the police to ask them to check it out.

[Kalispera]

A carseat used as a trap sounds like some sort of crazy Facebook meme that Snopes would sort out in 2 minutes flat.

I think if someone had abandoned a baby you'd have heard about it on the local news.

[frasersmummy]

i wouldnt speculate.. just call 101 report it and let the police deal

[NeedACleverNN]

It was most likely dumped but it wouldn't have hurt to call 101 to check.

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

I would have driven past as well but called the police to let them know of its location so they could check if it was a baby (unlikely) or remove it incase it was some sort of trap (also unlikely)

[TheGreatDessert]

Maybe log it with 101? I wouldn't have stopped if I was on my own either (unless there was obviously a child in there), but do log it. That way if something untoward has occurred you might provide vital info, or if someone is laying bait to attack people then the police are aware.

[ILoveAGoodBrusselSprout]

I'd definitely have driven past but I'd have called the police ASAP

[BagPusscatnip]

I'm going to this because a) this is a Facebook urban myth that has been around for years, and b) if this is true and you had serious doubts, either way if it was a baby or some kind of trap, why didn't you report it to the police once you got home?

[2nds]

It is completely possible that it really was just dumped on the side of the road with no sinister motive and no baby inside.. It's also possible that it may have contained a doll. Some people bring these strange lifelike dolls out with them in car seats and prams, each to their own but not my thing.

Might it have been put out for some scrap metal guys to pick up? Or maybe it was accidentally left there by a driver who was moving house and forgot to put the car seat back in the vehicle having moved it to get some furniture inside the vehicle?

[WannaBe]

so you could see in the dark that it looked like a new car seat and had a blanket over it, even though you didn't actually stop the car? Riiiiight.

This car seat story is an urban legend that has been doing the rounds for years. I certainly wouldn't be calling 101 to "log" an abandoned car seat which is now no longer there....

[Birdsgottafly]

There's been car seats dumped out of stolen cars, in my area (later identified). In one case, the seat had fingerprints on.

So worth reporting to the Police, especially as it had a blanket in.

[BertrandRussell]

Why on earth didn't you ring the police?

[BlossomHillOne]

www.hoax-slayer.com/infant-car-seat-gang-warning.shtml

[WorraLiberty]

The baby in car seat/car jacking/robbing/assault story is a hoax.

[Birdsgottafly]

""so you could see in the dark that it looked like a new car seat and had a blanket over it, ""

Should you be driving if you can't make that out? You should certainly have your lights on, which at some point would have lit the roadside.

[ghostyslovesheep]

interesting user name there

I would ring the police if I where you - then hurry back and tell us allllllllll about it

[hollyisalovelyname]

It's a scam.
You could have been robbed or your car taken if you had stopped.
It happens in Ireland too.
I'd call the local police just so they are aware of it.

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

Your not on my estate are you? People keep dumping car seats all over, there's one across the road now. The first time I rushed over thinking someone had left their baby (not that I'm prone to dramatics or anything ) but I think that because no one buys them used and they can't fit in the bin people just leave them on the street rather than paying the council to collect.

[WannaBe]

"Birdsgottafly possibly, TBH I don't drive, however given the OP was driving at presumably more than 30 miles an hour if it was not a residential street, she wouldn't have had long to take in that level of detail, surely?

[AdultingIsNotWhatIExpected]

This kinds of traps are not just urban myths
Some retellings of them are, but similar traps do happen, I've personally come across a crying child mugging trap. In real life, me, not a friend of a friend

[WorraLiberty]

hollyisalovelyname do you have a link to any evidence that this has actually happened?

[lalalalyra]

If it was in a layby bit near where I live and it was a Britax Dualfix then it was covered in vomit and forgotten and someone has picked it up

Pulled over because DD2 threw up everywhere. Dealt with her, changed her top by the side of the road, moved her into nephew's seat which was (I thought at the time luckily) in car, took carseat out, put it down next to car to deal with her saying she was going to be sick again. Sorted her all out, closed boot, drove home and then realised I hadn't put seat back in the car. Went back, but it was gone. £300 down the drain because I took it out to put in the boot for the smell and got distracted.

[WorraLiberty]

Or does anyone else have a link?

It would be interesting to find out once and for all whether this is a hoax or not.

[LunaLoveg00d]

Caller: Hello, is that the Police? Well last night I was driving along in the dark and I think I saw car seat, possibly new, possibly not, with a blanket over it, possibly with a baby in it and possibly not. The seat has gone now. I saw no people around the seat, and have no reason to believe anything suspicious was going on. I just thought I'd let you know. In case. Because I believe crap I read on the internet about traps and stuff.

Call handler: Okaaaaay.....