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

[LeoandBoosmum]

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

My dad is the local neighbourhood watch co ordinator. He'd absolutely love this info. He'd dutifully take it to the meeting, discuss it with all the local biddies, put it in the newsletter....

....and then.....

NOTHING would happen

Until next month when they all start clucking about wheelie bins being in the wrong place or kids cycling on pavements.

Happy days

No, Ziggy, no smell. That shop is like a takeaway but maybe it went out of business cos there is a chippy on the same row.
Gobbolino: I hope not. My nan has dementia and it's bloody horrible. I think I am a born worrier (I do have anxiety and my mother calls me the world's conscience cos I seem to worry incessantly!) My mum always says I take after my granddad who was the same (no one else in the family seems that way, except one uncle ie grandad's son) No, he's not a boyfriend...no sexy time going on with him. It's purely platonic with no attraction at all beyond friendship for either. I've known him for years and years and he's a really good mate who's been very kind and supportive of me through health struggles and some very tough times, that's all.
YourBrotherInLaw...no, I wouldn't say he's vulnerable in any way. I know he was bothered when he first moved in by the neighbours daughter and her mates but that's not an issue at all now. He's not involved in any dodgy dealings as he's an honest, straight-up kind of a bloke. No, I'm not married, no affair going on or anything...nothing clandestine or underhanded going at all. (No, TakeMeUpTheNorthMountain, nothing like that).
I do know he's been a bit unsettled as, after he moved in, he had a visitor looking for the previous tenant because she did a flit owing a lot of money to various agencies. He's had calls from debt collectors and he did have to refer one person to the letting agent to prove she'd vacated. He's still getting a lot of mail for her... I don't think that's anything he can't handle and once whoever is trying to catch up with the previous tenant does so I'm sure that'll settle, though I can't see him staying beyond the lease anyway (he hates it and calls it a one-horse town :D) I suppose that's one of the downsides of renting...you can pick up previous tenants' messes!
I do suffer from anxiety, YourBrotherInLaw, and it can be severe, so I tend to overthink and overanalyse things...and make mountains out of what others would consider molehills, and can get paranoid. Eg if something is stressing me I'll worry and worry and can't rest until I've fixed it even if I'm feeling dreadful. This is probably a case in point. Thanks for understanding anxiety...

Anyhow, no car now and I think the supermarket and its cash machine is still intact... It was probably any number of innocent things. I feel a bit silly now...

Lookrightnow That gave me a chuckle, thanks.

Don't feel silly, I do this sort of thing all the time. I get a bee in my bonnet and my thinking goes round in circles about it until I can talk myself down. The car is probably nothing and deep down you know that but it help me to get other people's perspectives on things too, either to offer more simple, rational explanations or confirm that I'm being over-anxious.

I once was convinced we were being staked out for a burglary because someone kept pushing our stacked decking over in a particular way and I had read an article about would-be burglars leaving markers on properties. It turned out to be erm the wind.

It's a horrible way to live. I hope you're feeling better about the car now.

Glad you're feeling more settled now...I totally get the anxiety thing & just wanted to say if it's getting you down, have a chat with the gp about accessing cbt. I have a chronic medical condition and a lot of crazy family baggage which means I'm a worrier too, & intensive cbt has really helped - in a nutshell you start to retrain yourself in how you think, & practise looking at balanced alternative thoughts (i.e a lot of the stuff pp have suggested above) & identifying when you start to freewheel into negative / anxious thoughts, which can help you put the brakes on as it were. It takes some effort but has been really, really helpful!

Anyway, hope that might help.

Night time security guard parks in the same spot every night so he can keep an eye on his car from inside on the cctv.

I've already suggested that iMN but it must have been too sensible a suggestion as I was ignored. :)

Local with 2 cars and only one parking space. Parks there as he can see it from the cul de sac/his back window. Or parks there because the supermarket has a CCTV camera pointed at that spot so knows if it's nicked it will be on camera?

Oops, sorry I missed that, alexreid, and I even RTFT too

Think you're right. Far too sensible and boring a possibility.