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Original poster

My things were stolen off my driveway

160 replies

Anordinarymum · 13/06/2021 06:20

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.

OP posts:

coogee · 13/06/2021 08:58

In what world does things on someone's private driveway mean it's a free for all?

I was wondering the same thing. Around here, you put stuff out on the verge if you don’t want it.

HeddaGarbled · 13/06/2021 09:00

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

Yes, this. A lot of these systems cost more to give you access to recorded footage rather than just being able to keep an eye on your house live whilst you’re not there.

81Byerley · 13/06/2021 09:03

You were very trusting to leave all that out. My Aunt and Uncle had a call from the police one night asking if my Aunt's handbag had been stolen. They'd picked up two boys, who had walked into their kitchen and picked up her bag. The door had been closed but not locked, and they were in the house watching TV. The police said don't ever make it easy for opportunistic thieves. It sounds like that's what happened to you, @Anordinarymum. I'm so sorry, it's awful for you.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Crime

Embracelife · 13/06/2021 09:04

You could try your household insurance
But your premium will likely go up.
Sad situation but be careful in future do not leave things unattended
Opportunistic crime

cushioncovers · 13/06/2021 09:07

I feel for you op I've had people walk into my garden and take things. I learnt a long time ago if it can be seen and easily picked up by someone they will take it. It's not right but it's sadly true. People will take anything. Things seem to worse than ever now after so many have lost their jobs because of the. Pandemic.

DotBall · 13/06/2021 09:13

Your post is so focused on the man next door though. It shows where you think the issues is in your mind

This, OP.
Take responsibility for the fact you were daft to leave stuff unattended.
Sadly, there is always a chance that there is a thief about.

SoupDragon · 13/06/2021 09:14

Take responsibility for the fact you were daft to leave stuff unattended.

She has.

billyt · 13/06/2021 09:14

Your neighbour isn't exactly being truthful.

'If' he has a state of the art Video Surveillance System (can't really describe them as Closed Circuit TV anymore - pedantic) then he controls the recordings. He decides what can and can't be viewed and retrieved, NOT any monitoring company.

That is why non-residential systems have to have a data controller. It's their responsibility to manage.

He either knows who did it, he took the stuff (he might have seen you going out) or he doesn't care.

And there are too many thieving bastards around that you have to take it for granted that if it isn't bolted down some low-life will steal it.

PrtScn · 13/06/2021 09:14

I don’t blame the neighbour for not doing anything. For all he knew, you were having a clear out and had arranged for people to come pick it up. You’d left stuff outside and there was a van and some men that could be mistaken for removal people.

Thisbastardcomputer · 13/06/2021 09:18

We can cctv fitted, the man fitting it demonstrated how to use it. When there was an incident locally I tried to look at the footage but couldn't remember how it use it. The police came and viewed it themselves.

SamMil · 13/06/2021 09:19

Some of these comments are crazy!

"OP the only one to blame here is you."

What?! Surely the people who stole from OP are to blame...?!

So much victim blaming here. People should be able to leave their possessions on their own property without having them stolen.

You wouldn't blame the victims of other types of crime because they made it easy - why is everyone piling on OP here?

VodkaSlimline · 13/06/2021 09:22

Why didn't you tell the police that you believe the neighbour's CCTV might have captured the evidence? He wouldn't have said no to them.

Meruem · 13/06/2021 09:28

Of course you “should” be able to leave items out without them getting stolen, but sadly you can’t. It’s not victim blaming to say it was a bit of a silly thing to do in the first place.

I stick anything I want rid of on my drive. Usually gone within 24 hours. It’s fine because that is my intention.

This situation was clearly theft. It’s clear this stuff wasn’t left out for the taking and I do have some sympathy for OP. But most thefts/burglaries are opportunistic. Stuff left in sight, a window left open etc. People do have to be cautious.

RampantIvy · 13/06/2021 09:30

So much victim blaming here. People should be able to leave their possessions on their own property without having them stolen

Yes they should but the reality is that they can't, and the OP was naive to think otherwise. Yes the fault is with the thieves, but I suspect the insurance company will put some of the blame on the OP for not taking enough precautions for preventing a crime. I think it is called contributory negligence.

BathwaterBaby · 13/06/2021 09:31

"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,"

Maybe your system isn't that obvious to other people?

Alcemeg · 13/06/2021 09:33

Aw, bad luck OP, horrible feeling.

Years ago my bedsit was burgled and the neighbours actually helped! 🤣 the burglar had a van outside and spun some yarn about sorting out a move. So they helped him load up the telly, etc 😎

Goldenbear · 13/06/2021 09:38

I think you should be able to leave your stuff on your own private property but this does happen, we had this when we moved in to our house as we had a 1960's swedish designer valuable footstool that goes with an arm chair. It was on the drive as we were still moving in and the bin people thought it was rubbish, it wasn't near the bins so they came on to the drive for it. We couldn't believe they had taken furniture. We did get it back though as rang straight away and retrieved it!

AbsolutelyPatsy · 13/06/2021 09:44

i cannot understand why you would leave these things on your driveway, awful to be robbed of course

AbsolutelyPatsy · 13/06/2021 09:46

when i bring the food shopping in i shut the boot of my car between loads.
trust no one op

nothingcanhurtmewithmyeyesshut · 13/06/2021 09:47

1k is really not much in the way of burglary and i wouldn't expect police to do much tbh. Especially as they didn't force entry.

It was silly to leave stuff unsupervised outside and expect that it wouldn't get stolen.

jessycake · 13/06/2021 09:54

I expect the neighbour doesn't want to become involved due to the type of people that cruise round in these vans. You are very unlikly to get anything back , you were just unlucky that they were doing the estate tour when you left the stuff out.

EnidSpyton · 13/06/2021 09:59

Round my way you can't leave anything outside for more than 5 minutes before the vultures descend. But I'm in central London and none of us on my street have front gardens - we're all straight onto the street. There's an accepted culture that if something has been left outside, it's free to anyone passing by. I don't think the people who took your stuff were unreasonable to assume it was free - it's not usual for people to leave things outside their house for any length of time unless they're getting rid of them or they're clearly moving. Likewise I don't think your neighbour is being unreasonable - he may genuinely not be able to access the CCTV footage. Or perhaps it's just a dummy system and he doesn't want you to know.

Chalk it up as a lesson learned. Never leave stuff unattended outside your property, even on your private drive. People do genuinely see things outside as being free to take. On a private drive they should knock and ask - but if you weren't home, I'm not surprised they just took them. The culture of skip diving, salvaging etc is so widely advertised on TV money saving programmes these days that it does seem to be accepted that this sort of behaviour is allowed.

I'm really sorry that your stuff got taken, though. I'm not saying it's your fault at all - your things should be safe on your own property. But as I say, for a lot of people, stuff outside does equal free stuff and many wouldn't even consider this theft.

SoupDragon · 13/06/2021 10:02

@RampantIvy

So much victim blaming here. People should be able to leave their possessions on their own property without having them stolen

Which other crimes do you apply that to?

diddl · 13/06/2021 10:04

Did you not tell the police that your neighbour has cctv?

Wouldn't they be able to access it?

ichifanny · 13/06/2021 10:05

Your stuff was stolen by horrible theiving bastards and your neighbour is a dick too for not giving you the car registration number . You haven’t done anything wrong OP apart from being too trusting or assuming that people aren’t all petty criminals .

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