My things were stolen off my driveway

[Anordinarymum]

One day when I was out some people came onto my private driveway and removed things which were clearly not left out for scrap people to take.
The items were at the top of my drive and of value. There was my grandson's pushchair which we had taken out of the car and put by the front door with a blanket and baby wipes and a cup. There were plastic boxes with lids containing kitchen electrical equipment , plates, pans and kitchen utensils and toys all neatly stacked ready to go into the garage. There was other stuff too and obviously not rubbish. Boxes of shoes and boots and two large items belonging to my son
My garage is full and the items were going in there as soon as I got rid of some furniture.

I had only been gone for 30 minutes and when I got back I noticed a boot on the path... and then I saw everything had been taken.
This means whoever did it had come across the path and onto private land.
If I ever leave anything out to be collected it is always placed next to the path and not on my driveway so it is obvious I do not want it, and the scrap people always knock on my door and ask.

My next door neighbour was burgled a couple of years ago when he went on holiday. They got in the house and took jewellery and money and things out of his garage.
We never heard a thing as the burglars got in through a window at the back.

He quickly had CCTV installed. He told me it was an expensive and state of the art system; his house and the road in front were all covered so anyone coming anywhere near would be caught on camera.

The day this happened to me he was in his office upstairs and saw the men arrive in a van and take my things. The van was parked facing his house.

When I got home I naturally knocked on his door and asked him if he had seen anything and he said yes he saw them taking my belongings.

I asked him if he could give me the number plate of the van from his CCTV and he said he could not access the footage.

I reported the theft to the police and they asked me if anyone had seen anything and I had to say my neighbour did but didn't see the number plate. No forensics as they did not leave anything behind and nobody could give the number plate so the crime could not be investigated.

I know my neighbour very well. We are good friends. I respect his decision not to help me but feel sad he has chosen not to. I have not fallen out with him, but feel disillusioned.

You just can't assume your belongings will be safe.

Sadly true, but posters pretending that it was anything else than theft are talking rubbish.

I'm not looking for any motive really. I was just a bit sad that he did not want to help. It's over now.
Why start a thread then?

I leave things in my drive way SO they go! I don’t even leave my car unlocked whilst unloading grocery shopping. I’m so sorry OP- your things should have been safe but they’re just not 😞

Op I’m so sorry this happened to you. It’s the thieving scumbags fault. How were you supposed to know that some thieving scum would rock up And go on your drive And steal your things. I’m sure if you knew there was any possibility of theft you’d never have left things there. We all made errors in our judgement.the police really should look into
This And ask for cctv. Check on local Fb and eBay if anyone is selling your things . Anyway look after yourself x

He told me it was an expensive and state of the art system; his house and the road in front were all covered so anyone coming anywhere near would be caught on camera

Does he actually have cctv? A lot of people who do are delighted when they have the chance to actually use it to help catch someone, especially if he has been burgled himself.

That's unhelpful of your neighbour. We were on holiday in New Zealand when our neighbours were burgled. They contacted us and we gave them the log in to our CCTV so they could look. There was no reason not to help.

I'd ask them to call the CCTV company and ask them to help access the footage.

So unbelievably odd to leave stuff in the drive and then be surprised it got pinched.

I’m glad I don’t live in an area where I can’t leave something on my private drive for under half an hour without it being loaded into a van and taken. Is that really how we all want to live?! I was clearing my garage out yesterday. Took most of the day and everything was on my drive. I was back and forth to back garden shifting things and in and out the house too. Absolutely nothing was taken even when I went in for lunch. My neighbours kids leave their expensive micro scooters at their front door overnight (personally feel little silly to do so and my kids put their bikes scooters in garage overnight). I often left my pram at my front door after walks with the baby although I did put away before nighttime (again my neighbours did not and often left it out overnight).

OP I’d say they knew full well those items weren’t just for the taking. Especially the pram with baby items still in it!! Your neighbour could be more helpful as well. I’m not even particularly meaning the cctv but the fact that he stood and witnessed everything being taken?? Is that right? He actually watched someone load all your belongings into a van including your pram and didn’t think to say “actually I’m not sure those are feee to take she’ll be home soon wait and ask her first”. Or if he didn’t want to shout over road to them why didn’t he write the van number down or take a picture? Bizarre.

I’m sorry you have been a victim of crime which can be upsetting and I settling.

However why are you investigating? That’s the polices job. They will speak to neighbour and get footage from the company.

People may misconstrue what your intentions are and maybe think you are accusing.

I think it's the fact he said "he saw it all" but won't assist you with footage which would piss me off

We all know who the people are who drive round "collecting" stuff left on driveways and they have definitely become more brazen in the last 12 months in response to the rise in middle class flytipping (how leaving things out on drives is labelled around my way 🤣 )

Whose to say you weren't moving things from front to back and were only out of sight 5 mins

I have found many of the responses to your OP in the CHAT forum very strange. I think most of us have come to expect even vile replys in AIBU but this was in chat!

I feel very sorry for you OP that you cannot leave anything out just beside your house without someone stealing it. The fact that you were only away for at the most ½ an hour, does worry me that people with a van came to steal your property. Do any of your other neighbours have a view of your house, because for people to turn up that quickly (and conveniently with a van, so able to take everything in one go) very suspicious - do you know many of your neighbours and do you believe them all to be trustworthy?

By the way I agree with Mr Sun Sun.

He might be telling the truth.

My CCTV system no longer works, but I've left the cameras up as a deterrent. I certainly don't go around admitting to people that they don't work!

He may have set his system up with a subscription service to have the footage stored, then not renewed the subscription, so now he can only see what the cameras are seeing live.

Maybe the cameras are dummy ones.
It's a harsh lesson to learn but there are opportunist thieves everywhere.
Twice on random nights we left our car unlocked by accident and had stuff stolen, on our drive.
I conclude that people must be wondering around our estate every night looking for unlocked cars.

I would strongly suspect that his ‘state-of-the-art’ system is in fact a set of dummy cameras intended to act as a deterrent.

Victim blaming at its finest

@Sometimesfraught82

*I'm not looking for any motive really. I was just a bit sad that he did not want to help. It's over now.* Why start a thread then?

It's chat. She probably wanted a chat about it?

'@Anordinarymum

I fully accept responsibility. I asked the man next door if he had seen anything and he said he had seen it all which is why I asked for the numberplate.'

OP,
Did your neighbour tell you he saw the plate number? Otherwise you might be presuming & that he intentionally won't help.
I am working upstairs in my office these days & alot goes on outside on the street that I can see from my window...tradesmen appear to different neighbours, supermarket delivery, courier services (lots), carers, dogwalkers. I don't automatically assume any of them are shady so therefore I see but don't notice the specific detail. I certainly wouldn't be taking plate numbers of vehicles unless I felt something was off. So it might be a bit much deciding that when your neighbour 'saw everything' that he can give you a recollection of it that will make any difference. Perhaps all he actually saw was a car/van pulling up & people loading items ...which were perhaps genuinely left for collection as far as he knew. He may not even have noticed you'd left & assumed you were home. I wouldn't pay much notice, I'd glance & then get back to my work. My neighbour would be the same I think, although she has more free time on her hands & is often out gardening so she might be somewhat more observant to what is afoot on the street.

Also, even if cctv was state of the art if there is a gatepost, low fence, shrubbing, a bin left out etc it could block cctv capturing plate numbers of vehicles or as PP suggested, perhaps he cannot access the tape for some reason. With GDPR, some companies limit recording to surrounds/boundaries of client's home & front of client's house as otherwise they need may permission to record comings & goings to your home if on there, albeit unintentionally. So a van outside your house, altho facing his house, might not be on there.

I just think your disappointment in him is perhaps unfair.

Also...why are you doing police's job, deciding that there are no forensics (prob aren't but still), that neighbour doesn't have plate number etc? Let the police go & ask, they could get cctv company name or prompt neighbour's recollection or ask one or two more in the vicinity..or get public street cctv as you can give them a small window of time when this all occured.

I understand your annoyance but not really your frustration directed at neighbour unless he has said 'I saw the people, got a good description, saw plate no. & everything, wrote the lot down & possibly it is on my cctv but I am not checking it or giving you any information to help you'.

I am sorry that we can't leave belongings unguarded & trust they will be as we left them on our return...but that is the way it is. I def wouldn't leave anything valuable out front & then leave the property. It'd just be my luck that some opportunist would be passing by.

I'm sorry to say it but even with the footage I doubt the police could do something. Not unless there's a clear image of their faces and a clear image of the things being taken from your driveway and put in the van. It's a very low level crime to the police and more hassle than it's worth.

People have such low standards. Of course someone didn't think all of OPs stuff was for free. There sounds like there was a lot of items there. It's obvious it was a theft and the thrives are at fault. Not sure how anyone thinks otherwise.

OP, is you neighbour worried about data protection laws he has to comply to if his cameras cover beyond his boundary? Eg secure data, delete data etc

Sorry OP what a horrible thing to happen. This was clearly done by scumbag thieves and not innocent people thinking it was a ‘free for all’. You’re allowed to feel bad about this!

OP - this was theft. If people want to give away free stuff they leave it near the pavement, not near the property.

Some friends run a small business from their house. They had a delivery of components comprising several boxes. The delivery driver unloaded the boxes onto their drive and left. They were backwards and forwards taking said boxes into their workshop at the rear of their house. The boxes were unattended for literally a couple of minutes on a couple of occasions. They went to collect another batch to find someone loading them into his van. When challenged the scumbag said he thought it was just free stuff - he didn't even know what was in the boxes! They reported the registration to the Police who said it was known to them.

On the subject of the CCTV, we installed a system following an incident at our house. According to the rules at that time we had to angle the cameras so that no neigbouring property or the pavement was covered because of privacy. We can literally only see peoples' feet as they walk past. We also have to have stickers on our windows and doors informing any would be miscreants that they are being recorded!

Where on earth do posters live that it’s seemingly acceptable to walk up someone’s drive and help yourself to items?!

Do you not ever leave bikes, or pushchairs out?! What about planters and garden pots?

Yes they were shits and I have been burned by them and on here

There's quite a bit of incongruence to your posts. I wonder if you're feeling really missed here? It's rubbish what happened to you, but the neighbour letting you down (in your eyes) appears to be what's upset you the most..

@Gladimnotcampinginthisweather

Or maybe your neighbour's cameras aren't 'state of the art' after all. 🤔

Exactly this. They are probably dummy cameras. He saw the van himself but didn't get the plate and didn't want to confront.

Also sorry but it was a bit silly to leave the stuff unattended.