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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Keys on roof of car

42 replies

lilyboleyn · 26/11/2016 10:55

My husband left my keys on the roof of the car and drove off with them.
They fell off on an A road and he tried to stop, reverse and get them, all with a baby in the back.
He's now in a mood with me as I shouted at him to stop and to drive on rather than killing us all.
On there were my car key, house key, a keyring containing £10, an out of date key care keyring from an old insurance policy, an RAC membership fob and various other keys. Also a keyring with a picture of me and the baby.
AIBU to ask what I need to do now? I've no intention of letting him drive back and pick up the mangled keys from the side of the road. I have one spare car key and spare house keys. We live in a rented flat so don't want to change the locks unless necessary. What might happen if we just leave them there?
TIA

OP posts:
AnchorDownDeepBreath · 26/11/2016 13:08

You're going to need to get your locks changed. It's likely to invalidate your contents insurance and potentially your landlords insurance, and it'd be a breach of my tenancy agreement too. I think it's a fairly standard term that you change the locks if you lose the keys; and if you're not going to retrieve them, they are lost.

VladmirsPoutine · 26/11/2016 14:15

Yanbu but I would have probably stopped and grabbed them. I can't see patrol cars sending out search officers for a bunch of keys.

raviolidreaming · 26/11/2016 14:19

If it's a busy dual carriageway then I wouldn't expect anyone would put themselves at risk to retrieve them, including the Highways Agency.

raviolidreaming · 26/11/2016 14:21

I would have probably stopped and grabbed them

On a busy dual carriageway with traffic going at 70mph?!

BadKnee · 26/11/2016 14:34

I have done it with coffee, a newspaper, a mobile phone, a handbag (got that back). Also did it with keys. Lost and gone forever....

(You'd think I'd learn really wouldn't you!!)

wasonthelist · 26/11/2016 14:35

It's likely to invalidate your contents insurance

Bollocks

AWaspOnAWindowInAHeatwave · 26/11/2016 14:58

Wason - not necessarily bollocks. Most policies will only uphold a claim for theft if the property was entered forcibly - therefore not if someone let themselves in using OP's keys and stole things from her flat.

Many home contents and car insurance policies do cover loss of keys though OP - perhaps worth seeing whether yours do?

Oblomov16 · 26/11/2016 17:26

You saw them fall off? I would have at least pulled over immediately ASAP, stopped in a safe'ish place and walked back and had a look.

helpfulperson · 26/11/2016 17:54

each year road workers are killed on dual carriageways and motorways because drivers didn't see them. That's road workers in full yellow high visit gear and protection vehicles and often speed limits reduced. 19 year old badly hurt in our area just this week.

To stop on a 70mph road which probably doesn't even have a hard shoulder and get out of the car to go and look for keys is madness.

specialsubject · 26/11/2016 18:59

your tenants' contents insurance may well cover you for lost keys.

your husband is a bloody dangerous driver.

NerrSnerr · 26/11/2016 19:07

I also can't believe so many would stop on a NSL dual carriageway. If there is a hard shoulder I may have considered it but I probably wouldn't have done. Please don't go when it's quiet and pull over on a dual carriageway unless you can be completely off the road as drivers may not be paying attention on a fast quiet road and may not notice the stopped car.

ShelaghTurner · 26/11/2016 19:12

I argue about this with my mother every time I think of it. I did the same thing and the keys fell off on the A30 in Cornwall at a particularly busy part and no hard shoulder. No way in hell was I going to risk stopping but she maintains that I should have done. With cars up my arse at 70+ no way! We phoned the council, highways agency and non emergency police for advice when we got home but we never got them back.

ShelaghTurner · 26/11/2016 19:15

We were on our way home to Surrey so couldn't go back at a quieter time either.

pinkmagic1 · 26/11/2016 19:18

I would definitely not have stopped on a busy dual carriageway, let alone reverse but would consider going very early tomorrow. There is generally hardly anything on the road early on a Sunday morning.

Original poster
lilyboleyn · 26/11/2016 19:29

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks he was being stupid.
Will check insurance when I get home. Had key care until switched provider in September!!!! Frustrating.
Going to get new car key cut tomorrow so have a spare...

OP posts:
weeblueberry · 26/11/2016 19:39

We thought we'd lost our keys recently. Called up insurance who absolutely confirmed that unless we replaced the locks the insurance would not be valid. So it's not bollocks. Luckily we found the damn things because the house insurance wouldn't cover the change and the car insurance introduced a separate key cover in March which we didn't know about so didn't opt for. Would have been £700 to replace both cars locks and the house locks.

So yeah. Glad we found them. And I'd make every effort you can to retrieve yours.

SistersOfPercy · 26/11/2016 22:36

Dh actually caught a mobile phone once as it flew off the roof of a car turning the corner.
It was rather amusing. Driver had no clue. We phoned his mum and he had it back ten minutes later.

I wouldnt have stopoed either to be honest. Not worth the risk.

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