Man sitting outside of my house

[Whatnametochoose85]

Hello,
(Not so much as an AIBU but more of a what would you do type of situation)

So this morning at roughly 07:30am a car pulled up outside my house which is nothing unusual in itself as I live on quite a busy street where there is lots of on-street parking, not many houses have driveways so residents just park wherever they can. At that time of the morning there were quite a few empty spaces along the street, one being in front of our home. A man was sitting inside the car and looked like he was texting on his phone.
I didn't think anything of it, went to work at 8:30, returned for lunch to let the dog out and the car is still there with the man sitting with his phone in his hand as before. Went back to work and just returned to see he's still there!!

I've never seen him or the car before, he's not a resident on the street (as far as I know). I've lived here for 14 years and recognise the neighbours and their cars. I initially just brushed it off as he may be waiting for someone, or may be a relative of a neighbour or something like that but as time has gone on I am feeling a bit uneasy about it!
He's not harming anyone, seems to be minding his own business but I can't help feel it's a bit odd.
He's obviously seen me leave and return so has known when the house was empty. I think this is what has made me feel a bit creeped out. I'm probably overreacting, but what do you think ?

I'd probably glance up. If he didn't look at you at all and was suddenly 'chatting away animatedly' then left fifteen minutes later, I'd say he's definitely surveilling someone in your road. And not very well.

I would say that if he is conducting some sort of surveillance, then it is not you that he is surveilling, it would be somebody up the road. Also if he was casing your house he wouldn't park there. It could be any number of reasons and you will probably never know why. I think that high vis means probably not surveillance.

A few years ago undercover police raided a house near me where a major drugs ring was operating. The police officers were disguised as workmen doing some work on my road (there were actual workmen there at one point)

On one Cambridge Uni rag week some students thought they'd have a jolly jape and there were some workmen digging up Trinty street so said students said unto the workmen that in a short while they'll be some students in Police uniforms comming along to arrest them, and not to be taken in by this subterfuge!

Then they went and told the police that some students dressed as workmen would be digging up trinity street and there was a very real danger they'd hit a gas main there and they needed stopping but to ignore their protest's that they were real workmen.

Well a good time was had by all there was a bit of a punch up and a few arrests but no one was charged. It was a big laugh and some money was raised for charity.

Pity but they don't do stuff like that anymore, too busy studing to get good degrees:!

@Neoncoral

What is he doing wrong? Where will 101 "log it?"

I see it took a whole four minutes for someone to make the inevitable "Log it with 101!" suggestion...

Sometimes people pick a random spot to wait in their car if they are bringing someone to an appointment and parking/waiting is awkward at the appointment location.They will wait until they receive a text/call from the other person.An example might be a day procedure in hospital far away from the person's home. I personally know a woman who did this. She was reading her book and drinking coffee from a flask in a very quiet street when a concerned resident tapped on the w indow and asked "can I help you?" She explained the situation.

Drug dealers are going mad atm with lockdown. Probably waiting for them.

Undercover surveillance.

Or

Hasn't told his partner/wife that he lost his job yet, so has to go out for the day.

He could be from MI5 on a stakeout - that would be exciting. Any suspicious looking neighbours?

ohhh you can convince people to hand over their life savings if you're wearing a high viz and carrying a letter.

Probably some poor woman has had to hire a private investigator to clock another cheating bastard of a husband. She'll start a thread on here by the end of this week.

He's a private detective keeping watch on someone in the road!

@NameChange84

I had this years ago and reported it to the police. It was somebody from the MOD doing surveillance on a house. My house 😂.

Why would the Ministry of Defence be surveilling your house and if they were why would the police tell you???

covid polis. 4 sure.

If he was parked outside my house for ages i would ask him if he's ok, say I've noticed you here for a while, have you broken down? I'm too nosy and would want him to know I've noticed him

I dont think police would be so obvious. They can use ways other than a car for observation.

I used to.live in a flat on the top floor of a Victorian house opposite a large pub. The police contacted me saying they needed to qatch a property nearby and could they come into my flat to do it.

It turned out the only window that looked the right way was the bathroom so I had two police officers complete with cameras in there for 10 hours. They even bought their own lunch and ate it in there. Luckily the toilet was in a separate room.

They then said they'd seen everything they'd needed and went away again!

Dont do what some busy body on our villages facebook page did and post "just seen the undercover police driving into X estate"

If you are uncomfortable with the situation or find his behaviour suspicious contact 101. There is no harm done. The police will check it out if they find the behaviour suspicious. I recently reported a suspicious van to the police and was advised that should I spot the van again to call 101 immediately and they will send a car out.

A plain clothes cop with a high-capacity bottle pretending to be a somewhat scruffy traffic surveyor? Though according to all the cop dramas I’ve seen (and that’s lots) he’d have been properly relieved by now. Pun vaguely intended. Though with the real police being underfunded and short-staffed these days, maybe they do spend a whole day shift just doing surveillance? Or maybe he is a private detective watching who’s going in and out of somebody’s house? We’ll be expecting a further report tomorrow, OP.

Justaboy do you really think that was funny? It sounds dangerously irresponsible to me! Not to mention that wasting police time is a criminal offence in itself...

@MiniMum97

I already explained above. It wasn’t the police that told me, although they did in a round about way explain it wasn’t a cause for concern. Given I’d seen the man taking pictures of my home in the evenings (specifically my bedroom at one point) and in the day, I kicked up a fuss which led to them explaining “I can tell you that it isn’t a reason for concern.” and when I pushed they said “it may be an undercover officer surveying the neighbourhood” quite pointedly. My best friend worked for the MOD at the time and had visited my home several times and spotted her colleague! Took her a long time and a job change out of the civil service to tell me though.

Made me laugh Justaboy. For the many many ways police time gets wasted this would count as light relief.

@madbirdlady22

Might be looking for anyone that has flown in from Spain for instance, save us the trouble of reporting and all that.

Dammit @madbirdlady22 , I came on to say just that.

Thanks @Handsoffisback - it went on for 3 weeks, is that usual?