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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To advise best friend to report this? Don't know if it's suspicious.

59 replies

LeoandBoosmum · 28/06/2014 19:45

My friend moved onto an estate in March... He lives in a cul-de-sac and doesn't really know any one. His road opening is facing a row of shops. Anyhow, I have stayed the past few nights and I have noticed a car parked outside the local mini supermarket each time, well beyond 8pm when the store shuts. The store is over the road but directly facing my friend's road opening. The first night I noticed it we were giving his dogs a toilet opportunity near to said car as there is a green there too. I had a brief look around the car and there were no signs of life, no damage like a flat tyre that might cause someone to temporarily abandon it, nothing suspicioius-looking etc.

The next moring, very early (I don't sleep well due to ahealth condition) I did see two separate vehicles parked across it (a white van with ladders, then a black hatchack...looked like a man in the van but apart from that I didn't see any people or comings or goings, any signs of activity etc), one after the other around 6.30am. It disppeared shortly after although I didn't see it leave... I thought it was probably an engine issue and the van and car had been to look at it/ attempt to fix it for the owner.

Fast forward to that evening and it was back although neither my friend nor I saw it arrive. It was still there early morning but had disappeared again later on.

It did it again last night/ this morning.

I don't know if I'm just being nosey but it doesn't seem normal. There are no houses nearby (well, there are but it's backs of houses...fences out to road). I have wondered if somehow the car is watching my friend's road... or if someone is casing the supermarket... (there is a cash machine on the other side of the building).

It's three nights this car has been parking there at night and going in the morning (same position, facing shops, all shops in darkness and shuttered and no other vehicles around). I think I'll be going home tonight so I won't know if car will do its usual but I think my friend should report it. There is one of those public-type cameras in that area (looks like a black ball on a tall post) but I don't know if the car is in its sights. I think my friend should report it to some one just in case it's dodgy. It is not a bad area but there was been crime, more so in the past... I told friend he should ask for the manager of the mini supermarket and at least tell him but my friend is reluctant and thinks they'll think he's mad.

AIBU to worry about it and to advise friend to report? And, who to?

Thanks

OP posts:
LeoandBoosmum · 28/06/2014 20:17

Yes, Pipbin... I wondered if it was somehow related. Friend is reluctant to do anything re neighbours (strange car activity) as he's already had harassment from his kids (when he first moved in...banging windows, rolling on his garden etc...just typical teenage pranks)

OP posts:
littlewhitebag · 28/06/2014 20:18

Someone has picked what they think is a reasonably okay place to park their car and you think it is dodgy? Okay.

Don't report this. The police will think you are bonkers.

Groovee · 28/06/2014 20:21

In our area, a lot of people who rent taxi's off owners for night shifts etc, park their cars nearby, Maybe that is what is happening here.

LeoandBoosmum · 28/06/2014 20:23

I didn't plan to tell the police, I thought maybe Neighbourhood Watch... I don't know why a person would park there overnight (by choice) as there are often kids hanging around (there is a chippy there were they like to congregate, throw stuff and wind chippy workers up). Doesn't seem the wisest place to park your car.
Never mind, I'll just accept I'm paranoid and leave it be.

OP posts:
LeoandBoosmum · 28/06/2014 20:24

Thanks, Groovee but it's not a taxi, no taxi stuff on it anyway..

OP posts:
YouAreMyRain · 28/06/2014 20:24

Definitely report. You say there's a shop that's never open, it could be being used for money laundering or smuggling or anything!
Wink

Besides, the people who answer the phones at 101 are probably on tenterhooks waiting to receive the next MN endorsed phone call.

Seriously, it sounds to me like someone local having a relationship they don't want to advertise so they think they have found an ideally discrete place to park (not banking on your mate having a super sleuth for a friend)

LeoandBoosmum · 28/06/2014 20:26

YouAreMyRain...I thought it was probably an amorous couple until I walked over and saw it was empty. Maybe the local take-away that's never open is a secret knocking shop...you never know!

OP posts:
piratecat · 28/06/2014 20:27

ganja

Smilesandpiles · 28/06/2014 20:33

Makes perfect sense if you ask me. If anything should happen to his car, chances are it will be on the shops CCTV, it's a closed shop so won't be blocking anyone and almost always free as no one usually parks outside of closed shops.

Smilesandpiles · 28/06/2014 20:33

Makes perfect sense if you ask me. If anything should happen to his car, chances are it will be on the shops CCTV, it's a closed shop so won't be blocking anyone and almost always free as no one usually parks outside of closed shops.

Deftones · 28/06/2014 20:33

Fuck me, have a cup of tea and biscuit...take your mind of pointless shit for a while

JodieGarberJacob · 28/06/2014 20:44

Bloody hell, I'm surprised you're not waiting for the car to arrive so you can follow the driver to see where he goes. That's what the. Secret Seven would have done.

YouAreMyRain · 28/06/2014 20:56

I meant as in they don't want to park outside the house they are shagging like rabbits in staying over at.

Hold on, could be benefit fraud! Report!!!!

SaucyJack · 28/06/2014 21:03

You sound very bored. Go to amazon, and buy a copy of The Day Of The Jackal. Should satiate your desperate need for a conspiracy thriller Wink

SoonToBeSix · 28/06/2014 21:07

You aren't probably paranoid, you definitely are.

Ziggyzoom · 28/06/2014 21:13

The only possibility that occurs to me, outside of the rational ideas about someone just parking there because it suits them, is the possibility that there is a cannabis grow in the vacant shop premises. This is quite common and would explain the frequent visitors. The overnight parker may be keeping an eye on things.

Is there a pungent smell around the shops?

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 28/06/2014 21:20

Good Lord - this sounds like my poor Granny when she developed paranoia at an early stage of dementia.

Um...I don't know what to say. What does your friend think?

I'd be a bit worried about getting a row for wasting police time if I reported this. Plus, what could the neighbourhood watch actually do? Just watch the empty car? People are allowed to park on public roads

fairyfuckwings · 28/06/2014 21:20

It could be someone having an affair and parking the car there so the neighbours on the street he's visiting don't suspect anything.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 28/06/2014 21:27

Anyway, I'm more interested in your "friend" - is he a boyfriend?

Why are you watching random cars instead of having sexy time Grin

YourBrotherInLaw · 28/06/2014 21:28

I get like this op but I have really bad anxiety. Grin

You do sound a but paranoid. This friend you are stay

YourBrotherInLaw · 28/06/2014 21:31

*staying with, do you have any reason to worry for him? He's not vulnerable or involved in any dodgy dealings? You aren't married to someone else? He's not claiming benefits as a single person or anything like that and you are worried about how your visits are being construed?

I get paranoid mainly when I feel like I'm doing something not entirely above board iyswim. Not saying that this is the case here at all btw, just thinking of what might be triggering you.

Bluebelljumpsoverthemoon · 28/06/2014 22:29

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you but I think this is stretching it a bit. Most likely someone has found a good place to park while they do shift work or go home, maybe there's no parking available outside their house.

TakeMeUpTheNorthMountain · 28/06/2014 22:48

Are you not supposed to be there? Are you worried someone is spying on ye?

AlexReidsLonelyBraincell · 28/06/2014 22:49

Could it be a security guard for the supermarket/shops? If the car appears just before closing and leaves in the morning.

catinbootz · 28/06/2014 22:51

"Hello Officer. I'd like to report a road-legal vehicle parked on a public road"

LOL

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