Someone has been in my car.

[wavesrolling]

Parking is tricky where I live. I have to park my car in a kind of cul-de-sac around the back of my house where I can't see it at all from the house.

Today, I went out to go shopping and the driver's door was not closed properly, like shut but not fully. Then when I got to it, my glove box was open and someone's obviously been in and had a good nosy around.

The weird thing is, nothing seems to have been taken. I don't normally keep anything very valuable in the car anyway, but I had a little pot of coins for tolls/ parking that was untouched (maybe £10 total?), some Ikea vases in the boot that I'm giving to a friend, umbrellas etc, and they're all still there.

I'm also almost certain that I locked the car last time I parked- it's automatic for me to double-press the lock button on my key as I leave. Could someone have got in if I accidentally didn't close the door properly? Why bother if they're not going to take anything?

Possibly another key opened your door and the person realised it wasn't their car.

Isn't unheard of.

Looking for a sat nav? Having a snooze in there?

Theres people rolling round all the time pulling on car doors hoping for an easy theft. It happens far more often than you think. Your car door has probably been pulled on loads of times.

They're opportunists looking for a quick win with a quick theft. You had nothing worth stealing so they probably just moved on to the next one.

I would have assumed you either didn't lock your car door as you thought or the door wasnt closed fully when you locked it therefore it didn't lock at all. Only advice is to more careful next time and double check.

My friend sat in what she thought was her husband car. Couldn't understand why the jet didn't work in the ignition (and why there was a banana skin when he doesn't like them). It took a few minutes to realise it wasn't his car. The keys had opened the car!

Pulling on car door handles is a habit for some people. Usually opportunistic thieves - they can check whether there's anything worth stealing, and if not, they can leave without having committed a crime. It's not illegal to get into someone's car if it's unlocked. A car isn't considered a building and there can be no crime of "trespass" or similar. Sometimes people just do it to get out of the rain or because they feel more secure than sleeping in the open.

Also, some opportunists might get a pang of conscience after climbing into the car and rooting around. Is it worth a criminal record for £10 in loose change, an umbrella and some vases? It depends on how desperate they are.

Homeless people raided my car once of some food I had in the boot but left my sat Nav and spare change and everything else

I didn't lock my car properly once. The only things missing were my parcel shelf and lunge whip (very long whip used for schooling horses)..... I can only imagine it was kids and they ran off, one using the parcel shelf as a shield and the other trying to beat 10 bells out of them.......