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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why police knocked on our door at 2am?

42 replies

schmalex · 08/09/2021 09:28

We were woken at 2am by the doorbell ringing. It was the police, but as we were deeply asleep it took us a while to wake up and realise, and by the time we'd got to the door they had driven off.

We phoned 101 to find out what was going on and they said it was to do with the sale of a car and had we sold one recently? We haven't. Plus it's an odd thing to be investigating in the middle of the night!

What could be going on here? We own the house but have recently moved back in after letting it out for a few years. Should I be worried about what our tenants have been up to?

OP posts:
SprayedWithDettol · 08/09/2021 09:31

I think that might not be the full picture. I doubt a dodgy car sale would require a visit in the middle of the night.
I doubt a call handler would give you any info over the phone, tbh you could be anyone.
If it is important they will come back, or perhaps you could ring and make an appointment for them to visit.

Starlight86 · 08/09/2021 09:49

How very strange.

I would only expect the police to knock my door at that time if someone was dead, or someone in the house had committed a crime and were about to be arrested.

God help them if at 2am they rocked up and started asking me about a car sale, id be fucking fuming and tell them so!

RedHelenB · 08/09/2021 09:50

Presumably the car sale had sonething ro do with a more serious crime being committed. At least they didn't break the door down I suppose.

ittakes2 · 08/09/2021 09:59

They might have had the wrong house

Original poster
schmalex · 08/09/2021 10:49

I thought that too @ittakes2 but when my husband phoned 101 he told them the house name. They pulled right up onto our drive so it didn't look like they were going to other houses. There are only 15 on our road and they're quite spaced apart.

OP posts:
Original poster
schmalex · 08/09/2021 10:50

@Starlight86 exactly! I was too drowsy and disoriented to fume though

OP posts:
aliasname · 08/09/2021 10:54

It doesn't necessarily have to be anything to do with you. We had the police in the middle of the night to say they'd found an old lady wandering down the the street in her nightie, and did we know who she was.

randomlyLostInWales · 08/09/2021 11:08

We had it just after a move.

We'd had the garage broken into and DH motorbike taken and it has then been used during some vehicle thefts.

He was quite short with us as he'd been to previous address and we'd been hard to rouse - we had very young children and had moved only a week or so before so were exhausted.

We had to find documents to show we had changed insurance to our new address and that the garage door had clearly been damaged while he stood on our door step.

We were actually very shaken and upset as that was DH only way into work and the internal door to garage was only locked becuase I'd gone round checking which at time I wasn't always doing.

We've had them come round in daylight at this house to do welfare check for someone we'd never heard of - guy in his late 30 though they had no idea why he was vunerable his DGP had contacted another police force - they insisted on searching house and talking to kids in back room to check we weren't hiding them Hmm. DGP had used facbook to work out we must know their GC as we were in Wales where he was supposed to be visiting and police seem inclinded to beleive them rather than us.

So I'm not sure how much good information they actually have when they knock on doors.

Baypony · 08/09/2021 11:13

If you have rented the house out and only moved back in recently I expect it would be something like a car registered to, or previously registered to your address had been found crashed without anyone in it and they needed to try and trace the owners. Or someone had been arrested driving a car registered to your address in another area of the country and they needed to make enquiries as to whether the car was stolen. If the left before you got to the door it suggests that they no longer needed the info or had another more pressing job to go to. Do you have a vehicle on your drive? If so they may have checked the owner of this and realised it wasn’t the person they needed. I expect they will be back if it’s important, but nothing for you to worry about.

ItsReallyOnlyMe · 08/09/2021 11:16

We had the police in the middle of the night once as they'd had reports of someone going into our back garden.

SirenSays · 08/09/2021 11:20

Why do they do this!
The same thing happened to me whilst DH was working away. I convinced myself it was a death knock, but when I got dressed calmed the dog and got downstairs they'd completely vanished. I rang DH who was obviously fast asleep so didn't answer for ages, I was going out of my mind with worry.

EKGEMS · 08/09/2021 11:24

We were woken up in middle of night by the police as we supposedly dialed 911-the cops made me come out and show I wasn't injured or under duress before they'd leave. We never called the police- we were sound asleep! At that time we had voice over internet phone service and the carrier said they'd heard of similar issues with other customers. There's nothing like a police knock!

PTW1234 · 08/09/2021 11:29

I once had the police knock as a suspected car thief had been chased on foot in the middle of the night from a near by estate.

He was found on my dead end private road, and his excuse was he wasn’t the man they where chasing and was visiting a friend called “Jane”. He refused to tell them which house on my street (because he was lying) so they knocked round all the houses to find “Jane”

We was on holiday at the time so not sure if they did it there and then so they could make an arrest whilst they had hold of him (I found out by letter, the police wrote to us and asked us to call)

Could it be something similar? Person found in a presumed stolen car (middle of the night so not reported) his excuse for being in the car is he had just bought it but won’t say where from because he had stolen the car

IntermittentParps · 08/09/2021 11:34

Get back on to them and say you're nervous because it seems like it might be a scam or something else dodgy.

BrightYellowDaffodil · 08/09/2021 11:40

I think sometimes the police forget that because they work shifts and therefore the middle of the night is the middle of their working day, that it's not the case for everyone! Recently had the police ring me at midnight to discuss a report I'd made the week before - she was most surprised to get rather short shrift and told me this was her normal working hours when I pointed out it was the middle of the night.

PluggingAway · 08/09/2021 11:45

@BrightYellowDaffodil

I think sometimes the police forget that because they work shifts and therefore the middle of the night is the middle of their working day, that it's not the case for everyone! Recently had the police ring me at midnight to discuss a report I'd made the week before - she was most surprised to get rather short shrift and told me this was her normal working hours when I pointed out it was the middle of the night.
The same thing happened to me recently. I witnessed something relatively minor in my local area and reported it. Somebody rang me over a week later at about 11pm to discuss it. I have to be up at 5am and I am also woken 2 or 3 times in the small hours to feed my young baby. I was really pissed off.

Certainly doesn't make me want to spend my time reporting things to the police in the future.

Doubledoorsontogarden · 08/09/2021 12:05

I had this and accidentally mooned them as I walked upstairs in my nightshirt. On this occasion it was previous occupants they needed to speak to

Tooembarrassingtomention · 08/09/2021 12:14

By DB had them force his front door and arrive in the bathroom (he was in the bath) and apparently 5 people had reported that he had been murdered by his wife. He vaguely resembled an e fit

We had them turn up in the middle of Christmas lunch to do crime scene on our house. They were in the wrong street

ParkheadParadise · 08/09/2021 12:19

Just be thankful it wasn't a death knock.

Notaroadrunner · 08/09/2021 12:20

We've had them turn up, but at 7am, and when I looked out the window and saw the car my first thought was that a relative must be dead. Anyway, I ran downstairs, heavily pregnant with my bare bump in full view in an ill fitting tshirt, opened the door to them walking away as they'd just realised they were in the wrong estate. There had been a robbery in another estate with same number house.

Jemand · 08/09/2021 12:46

Phone the local police and ask to speak to a senior officer?

Bluntness100 · 08/09/2021 12:49

I’d assume the car was involved in something and it’s registered to your address. Whatever it was the car was involved in caused the police to need to do a middle of the night visit.

Flumo · 08/09/2021 12:55

Can you ring your local police?

Original poster
schmalex · 08/09/2021 13:21

@Flumo we did phone them but all they could tell us was that it related to the sale of a car. 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
Foreverlexicon · 08/09/2021 13:37

Believe me the officers are well aware people don’t want them turning up at 3am for something minor or something reported a week ago….however the powers that be say ‘we’re a 24 hour service’ so there is little choice but to do it..