Oh Jesus... Just stopped a burglary

[QuestionableMouse]

Please excuse any typos... I'm really shaking.

Heard a strange car drive down the back lane (houses are surrounded by fields and have a road back and front but only the front is lit). Stuck my head out of the window that faces onto the back and listen (we often get sat Nov failures) and heard them talking about where to break in and how easily the flat screen lift off the wall. Dialled 999 and kept watching. They headed to their car (assuming for tools) while I was still waiting to get through to 999.

So I found a police siren video on my tablet and played it at full blast. Well they ran so fast one fell over. Sadly didn't get a good look at the car, just a fleeting impression so not much help.

I'm feeling a bit shaky and at the same time proud of myself. Police took what details I had and we've just had a car driving round. I don't think I'll sleep tonight

OP didn’t stop burglars being caught, she stopped them getting into someone’s home.

We were broken into. Our neighbours interrupted them. The neighbours Shut the gate on the drive to hold them up, called 999 whilst standing in their drive watching the burglars trying to smash through the gate, the police still didn’t catch them .

As a result my neighbours were traumatised (the burglars had shouted threats and waved a knife at them), we were traumatised - they had made a huge mess in the house, smashed a massive patio door, we were finding glass for months and did about £4K of damage.

And some posters think the OP did the wrong thing chasing the burglars away?!!! I would have loved to have not been through that and so would my neighbours. The OP knew the police were extremely busy and so she acted. The OP is a quick thinking hero!

Well done OP hope u feeling better now. I you like dogs, now is the time to add one to your family.

Excellent work OP!
You can get motion sensor alarms off Amazon that bark when someone approaches. It's a deterrent just like that.

I've caught someone slashing a person's tyres before. They were crouched beside the car, I watched them stab the tyre and heard the hiss. Then they realised I was there. I pretended I hadn't seen, got in my car and wrote their reg down.
Police came out the next day & they were caught.

Thing is you don't put yourself in danger, you do what you can on the spur of the moment. Mine was an adrenaline fuelled 'how dare they' followed by I'm a lone woman in a quiet car park and they're bigger than me and clearly have a knife.

Well done you!

Mine is nothing in comparison. My husband's Van is parked on our mini drive, directly below our bedroom window. My dh woke up and heard a car stop (which isn't uncommon). He got up and looked out the window and saw them with a crowbar or something approaching his van doors. Instead of doing something he woke me up. I jumped out of bed, banged on the window, whilst opening it and tried to get a photo. They sped off so fast. My lovely dh didn't want to annoy them apparently!

Workreturner no, I stopped them from breaking into someone's house. I'd been on the phone to the police for over two minutes already at the point I decided I had to do something. My village is at least a ten minute drive from the next largish town but only a couple of minutes from the motorway. I got what details I could and stopped someone from having the heartbreak and dear of being robbed.

What would you have done?

@Workreturner

You are so wrong. My car was broken into in the same street about this time last year. A neighbor phones the police but by the time they arrived the bastards were long gone. They'd also broken into two other cars and tried to break into a house. The police could have come out and caught them in the act but they basically weren't interested. It's a massive invasion of privacy and safety when you're robbed. I got upset every time I drove the car because they'd done quite a lot of damage breaking in for a bag that had some uniform in from work!

Do bore off dear. I'm happy that in these circumstances, I did the best I could. I'd much rather stop a robbery than have to pick up the pieces afterwards.

@WereYouHareWhenIWasFox

It's a Huawei Mediapad. It is pretty loud but is also very quiet around here on a night. (We're quite rural)

@Charmlight I know it sounds so unbelievable right. I swear on my family's lives that it did happen. Though it does feel rather like a dream this morning!

A police car did come out but it was a full 90mins after. They could have burgled the entire street by then.

Neighbors are all aware.

Some of you are so much braver than me... I wouldn't be chasing anyone!

Well done OP!
Takes a while for the adrenaline to disappear after something like that.

I caught 2 lads breaking into my next door neighbours. I nearly shouted at them but my kids were tiny at the time so I came back in the house and called 999. The police were there within about 2 mins,loads of cars and a van! It must have been a quiet morning.
They actually watched the lads break in than they all legged it into the house and arrested them.
The police were very happy as they very rarely catch burglars,especially in action.

What would I have done?

Very first thing would have been to scribble down make and model of reg of car.

Very first thing would have been to scribble down make and model of reg of car

At 1am on unlit road? Not without leaving your house and approaching the car with a torch you wouldn't. And that information would be, frankly, piss all use to the police when they found what in all likelihood would either turn out to be a stolen car, a pool car with no registered keeper, or a car with the same (copied) plates but a different make and model.

I've been burgled. Yes the police were called both times, and no, the culprits have never been caught. Tbh if a neighbour told me they'd scared someone off who was trying to break in I'd be a damned sight more grateful than I would if they cheerfully told me they'd watched it happening.

Rather than play a pretend siren, you should have been taking detailed notes of car details and descriptions.

Odfod! She already said it was dark. If it's anything like round here, there'd be no police available anyway. Thieves tried to remove an ATM this week and obviously it was reported, pretty noisy etc. Nearest cops were 20 minutes drive away. No chance of getting there. Luckily the thieves didn't manage to remove it.

@Workreturner are you being deliberately obtuse?

I actually have the police a decent amount of information including a general description of the car.

When I say it's dark in my street, i really mean it. The pic is a snap I just took out of the window.

I ask again what you'd have done? Let them break in?

Here's the same view with the flash on. There are two cars (one white, one blue) parked on the road, not one.

It's fucking black round here 😂

Just so impressed, going to tell all my neighbours about this.

Great thinking and a good result ie no crime committed and nobody hurt. I wouldn’t have thought about something like that. I’d have probably run out brandishing a saucepan shouting “Be off with you!” in my best Margot Leadbetter voice

I'm not brave enough to run at them!

Workreturner I had my psycho stalker ex leaning on my buzzer once, DD then 6 months and I were trapped in the flat. I dialled 999, was connected to the nearest police station, they only had 6 cars and they were all out. Yes, of course we dial 999 and the police come in 5 minutes.

workreturner

While you're scribbling down the car reg the burglars have got in the house and caused damage. I really can't see why you think the op should be mortified. Lmao seriously?