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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I drove past a carseat, I didn't stop...

68 replies

user1468508742 · 14/07/2016 16:14

This is probably going to sound really odd but I'm not really sure who else to ask.

I was driving relatively late last night, around 9:30pm, through a country road, so it's very quiet and surrounded by lots of trees. I saw a carseat, which looked quite new, it definitely wasn't just dumped there.

I couldn't see inside it, as there was a blanket. I'm not sure if anyone else has heard of the thing where people use their small children or pretend there's a carseat with a child in it or whatever so someone goes and helps? But then gets raped? I have heard of it before, I don't remember when but I do know my mum told me about it as a teenager.

All I thought about was that and wanted to get off that road asap. I get home and thought about it a couple of times and thought there's no way would someone actually leave their baby there and if it wasn't some kind of trap, it was obvious that maybe it was just dumped. I drove past there this morning, it was gone... Nothing there. Now I am worried that a) it was a child and has now been taken, to a safe or unsafe place. Or b) it was a trap and that it will be out to get more people.

Honestly, am I just completely blowing this out of proportion?

OP posts:

NeedACleverNN · 14/07/2016 16:41

I bet 99% of cases it's a hoax Worra but there's no bottom line when people are desperate for money.

So one day someone might the trick

lalalalyra · 14/07/2016 16:42

DD3 - shouldn't type with a child in my eyeline or they lose ten years in age!

Ybaby · 14/07/2016 16:44

I passed one on a v busy road a couple of moths ago - had no idea about the scam but couldn't stop. Pulled over when I could called 101 - held in a queue - hung up and called 999 just in case there was a baby in it - lovely policeman said that he suspected it was dumped but he's go and check it out.
Since then I've asked various friend what they would have done and the answers have been about as varied as those above.

LunaLoveg00d · 14/07/2016 16:46

I passed one on a v busy road a couple of moths ago - had no idea about the scam but couldn't stop. Pulled over when I could called 101

Yes - right away when you had the chance. Not in the afternoon of the next day, when it's 18 hours later and you've been back down the same road and seen the seat has gone.

WorraLiberty · 14/07/2016 16:46

True Need but with regards to whether is actually has happened, I'd really like to know.

Ybaby · 14/07/2016 16:48

True Luna (great name) I wouldn't have called the next day

derenstar · 14/07/2016 16:49

Could possibly have come out of a stolen car - what does a thief need with a car seat unless the their has kids or can be bothered to sell it!

Footle · 14/07/2016 16:52

I drove past an exercise bike on a grass verge in Cumbria the other day.

opensideno7 · 14/07/2016 16:55

lalalalyra

It is so depressing , people will nick anything.

WorraLiberty · 14/07/2016 16:59

I'm wondering what the difference is between a dumped car seat by the side of the road, and just a car seat by the side of the road.

How do you know it definitely wasn't dumped?

BrieAndChilli · 14/07/2016 17:03

I was driving home late one night and a van was stopped in the middle of the road, hazard lights on, I went round it and as I did it started flashing it's lights at me, terrified I would get robbed/raped I kept going but as soon as I got home 5 min later u suddenly wondered if the driver was trying to get me attention because they were having a heart attack/diabetic hypo or something so rang the police to report it so they could drive by and check it, never heard back though.

BlossomHillOne · 14/07/2016 17:05

There isn't any evidence, because it hasn't happened - it's an internet hoax...

NeedACleverNN · 14/07/2016 17:07

It's like the man hiding in the back seat of a car when you go and get petrol. It's a gang initiation isn't it?

Lilly948204 · 14/07/2016 17:17

I remember seeing this as a warning, but not for rape, was for car jacking, when you get out and check seat they jump in and drive off with your car. I would have rung the police and told them.

littlemouse15 · 14/07/2016 17:18

Even if the original story was a hoax it could of given a sick minded individual an idea to try it for real.

limitedperiodonly · 14/07/2016 17:22

It was a flying car seat but instead of a baby there was an evil goblin in it. You've had a very lucky escape OP.

GabsAlot · 14/07/2016 17:22

no harm informing police i its nothing then no harm done

i personally dont stop for anything when im alone sorry i it sounds harsh

rubybleu22 · 14/07/2016 17:24

its not a hoax, I live in a rural area, in the next village up a friend of mine was driving up a lane, spotted a car seat, covered in a blanket, in a gateway on her drivers side,at about 10pm, she slowed down, before she even stopped, a man jumped from behind a tree, and launched himself into her open passenger window, she sped up, he punched her repeatedly in the face, before jumping out of the back door with her handbag, which was on the backseat.....I would just ring 101, that was 2 years ago, same village last year, a gang flagged down a farmer in a damaged car on the side of the road, with a hit and run & injured friend story, they attempted to steal the farm equipment he was carrying, which was luckily fitted with a tracker

TheWeeBabySeamus1 · 14/07/2016 17:25

I love Mumsnet it wouldn't even cross my mind to call the police because there was a car seat in the street. All your theories are much more exciting than mine.

I'll be eyeing every piece of fly tipping I see very suspiciously from now on.

WorraLiberty · 14/07/2016 17:27

ruby could you link to the newspaper story please?

Or (again) can anyone claiming it's not a hoax, link to evidence that it actually happened?

limitedperiodonly · 14/07/2016 17:28

There must be easier ways to earn money

YellowShockedFace · 14/07/2016 17:35

Even if the original story was a hoax it could of given a sick minded individual an idea to try it for real.
That's what I wondered too

limitedperiodonly · 14/07/2016 17:35

If you're trying to lure ladies to doom it's hard to know what to lay as bait.

I'd drive by a car seat because I don't want a baby but I always check cardboard boxes because the sister of a friend of my friend at school once found some kittens abandoned in a cardboard box.

I've been checking cardboard boxes by the side of the road for 45 years now with no luck. I've never been raped, robbed or murdered but it's a risk I'm willing to take for the sake of the kittens and a picture of me grinning in the local paper.

YellowShockedFace · 14/07/2016 17:36

If I ever see one I will be ready to bash a would-be murderer over the head with something

e1y1 · 14/07/2016 17:49

That's the problem though, whether ANYTHING is a hoax or not - it only takes one psycho to use that particular method (car seat, back seat at petrol stations) and then it's no longer a hoax.

Don't think you'd ever really find out about it, as rapists/murders aren't usually in the habit of posting an ad in the local paper/facebook saying that they want to commit a rape and need volunteers.

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