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.

[SanFrancisco49er]

I understand why you are disillusioned and I'm sorry this happened to you. It's shocking and scary when people intrude on your property and take your possesions.
It's also hard to learn that not everyone is as helpful as you might be in these situations, for whatever reason.

I take the view that I will try to keep everything I have as safe as possible - meaning I am hyper aware of security at all times, I even hide my sun loungers at night, despite having a high wall and a padlocked gate) and continue to try to do unto others as I would have them do unto me.

(I grew up in a big house in a lovely area, full of similar houses and we were constantly targeted for break ins depsite good security so I'm not paranoid, just aware of how many opportunities there are for people to steal every single day and I try to reduce those opportunities as much as I can.)

[Theraindropontherose]

I had this - a car seat I’d taken out of the car to clean as it had been vomited on, but also with a deconstructed double bed! General consensus of friends was that if it’s outside on your drive it’s fair game. I haven’t left anything out since…..

[MintyMabel]

Sounds like your neighbour is ‘paying you back’ for not knowing his house was being burgled to me (not that it was your fault)

Nonsense. Perhaps after having spent a fortune on CCTV to protect his own property, he finds in incredibly cheeky that the OP, having driven off leaving over 1k of stuff on her drive for half an hour knowing that there was a risk of burglaries, has the gall to ask him for access to the footage. I’m not sure I’d be so happy to do that.

Which other crimes do you apply that to?

Insurance companies apply that kind of thinking in most situations.

But as I say, for a lot of people, stuff outside does equal free stuff and many wouldn't even consider this theft.

I genuinely do not believe “many” people would see a private driveway full of stuff and think it was theirs for the taking.

[MintyMabel]

You haven’t done anything wrong OP apart from being too trusting or assuming that people aren’t all petty criminals

As someone else has said, would this be the case if she had left 1k of cash sitting in her drive?

[Gladimnotcampinginthisweather]

Lesson learnt OP.
Where we live people often leave things on their drive for people to take.

[NotImpossible]

Wtf? Do people here really think it's reasonable to wander onto people's property and take stuff in the absence of a sign or some sort that makes it clear it's free?!

[MissConductUS]

If your neighbor's CCTV system was installed a couple of years ago and really was state of the art, the recordings would have been streamed out his internet connection and stored in the cloud, and been accessible on the company's website.

We had Ring cameras and an alarm system installed a few months ago and even on their free plan the recordings are accessible for 30 days. If the van was any distance away the registration numbers may not be clearly legible even at 1080P resolution but they would still have a lot of useful information.

Where I live you have to put something out at the end of the driveway, right on the edge of the street to indicate it's available to who wants it, and even then it may not go unless you put a sign on it that says "FREE". I find the idea that someone would consider something left elsewhere, especially right next to the house, as free for the taking a little mind-boggling.

[cansu]

It really is ridiculous to leave a load of valuable stuff boxed up on your drive way. It probably did look like it had been left to be disposed of as many people now do leave stuff out in the hope that it is taken! Your neighbour is being a bit unfair to not help you as it might then have been possible to get some of your stuff back.

[diddl]

If I wanted stuff taking it would be at the bottom of the drive, nearest the pavement & with a sign saying that it was free to take.

[Confusedandshaken]

During lockdown we have left things on the driveway to be collected by shelters/charities on several occasions. I've also left things out for friends to drive by and collect. If I was your neighbour I would have assumed that was the situation here so he is in no way at fault. If he is saying you can't have the CCTV footage I would think that doesn't exist either through error or because it's a dummy camera.


I think your annoyance at the loss is being misdirected here. You and the the thieves are at fault. Not your neighbour.

[EnidSpyton]

I really do think many people believe that if it's left out, it's free to take.

My sister is moving at the moment and she couldn't get a dump slot for love nor money. Due to lack of space inside she had left everything she wanted to take to the dump on her drive ready for when she could get a slot. She was thrilled when she realised someone had taken all the stuff off her drive for her one afternoon!

Maybe it depends on the area where you live, but certainly, where I live, the attitude seems to be, if it's not in your house or nailed down, it's up for grabs. No signs needed.

[pumpkintree]

if you told the police he had CCTV they would have asked him for it.

[MandalaYogaTapestry]

@HercwasanEnemyofEducation

The value of the goods was over 1K

Would you leave 1k cash unsupervised on your drive for half an hour?

That's not a comparable thing, I wouldn't leave £10, let alone a £1000, unsurprised on my drive but might leave a pushchair out when the children were smaller.

[BonnyandPoppy]

If he had ring cameras installed and not paid the subscription then you can see what’s happening live but nothing is saved

[cctvrec]

See if you can make a claim on your insurance, get your own CCTV (seriously, WHY doesn't everyone have CCTV nowadays?!) I got a Blink camera system for £79 thats run on a couple of batteries a year and all you need to do it screw it in with two screws!) and never take a single parcel in for that neighbour again.

Need to borrow a cup of sugar? They can kiss my arse.

[Nocutenamesleft]

@AlternativePerspective

OP the only one to blame here is you.

You left £1k worth of stuff out on public display. Your neighbour wasn’t to know that the van wasn’t going to pick it up. Your neighbour isn’t responsible for it being there or it being taken. And if your neighbour can’t see the reg number on the CCTV then he’s not being difficult.

Stop blaming everyone else and accept that you were irresponsible.

I have to agree with this.

[MintyMabel]

That's not a comparable thing, I wouldn't leave £10, let alone a £1000, unsurprised on my drive but might leave a pushchair out when the children were smaller.

It is comparable. We’re not talking about a pushchair, we are talking about a large number of high value goods which she drove away and left unattended for half an hour.

If your pushchair was worth 1k and you’d leave it outside, you’d have to accept it might be nicked.

[PixieDust28]

@NotImpossible

Wtf? Do people here really think it's reasonable to wander onto people's property and take stuff in the absence of a sign or some sort that makes it clear it's free?!

Apparently!

[aiwblam]

Didn’t ge see the number plate with his eyes? Surely no need to access footage.

What a shit society we live in.

[LuckyWookie]

You left stuff on your drive and went off for half an hour. I'm not surprised it went!
This. You can’t just leave £1k of stuff on your drive and wander off. I mean obviously it shouldn’t be stolen but it was stupid to leave it. Thieves are opportunist.

[proopher]

It's obviously not the OP's fault that her stuff was taken, but I cannot think of a single reason why I would deliberately leave stuff worth that amount of money in my front garden. I don't even leave my deck chair out there if I leave the house and I have never heard of any burglaries nearby!

[OpalBerry]

You'd have to be dodgy to think a pram with a blanket and wipes on it was up for grabs. Maybe they go to parks and grab prams while mums help their toddler on the swings

[MolyHolyGuacamole]

@OpalBerry

You'd have to be dodgy to think a pram with a blanket and wipes on it was up for grabs. Maybe they go to parks and grab prams while mums help their toddler on the swings

Yeah it's a thing. I saw CCTV footage of someone walking into a restaurant and grabbing a buggy right from the buggy park at the front and walking off with it. Buggies are expensive

[PaperMonster]

It’s a poor do if you can’t leave stuff on your own driveway without someone stealing it. Or maybe we’ve just been fortunate. Here, if people have been getting rid of stuff, it’s usually signed as such. Neighbour is being a bit of a knob though.

[BeepBoopBop]

@PaperMonster

It’s a poor do if you can’t leave stuff on your own driveway without someone stealing it. Or maybe we’ve just been fortunate. Here, if people have been getting rid of stuff, it’s usually signed as such. Neighbour is being a bit of a knob though.

Exactly.

We used to leave everything out on our front drive as it was convenient - kayaks, paddle boards, etc Never lost a thing.

Left my ancient Golf at the marina car park and some low life forced the door, popped the bonnet and stole the plastic engine cover WTAF

Now in rural France and don't even lock the house doors now, unless we are out all day. It's such a shame there are some disgusting, shameless people out there