Desperate for help (Birmingham, Twitter, car keys, NCP)

[LostCarKeys]

AIBU to beg for help from strangers on the internet?

I’m on holiday in Birmingham with three kids. I parked in an NCP car park on Monday night and we’ve been staying in a car park since.

We checked out this morning to leave and head home (Brighton) via Coventry to see my Nan (90 years old).

I can’t find my car keys 🤦🏻‍♀️

Building on @LakieLady great idea, do you have an iPhone? It will tell your your recent locations

Do not go via the aa or rac locksmith route. Trust me.
When dh lost his only key I googled " car make autolocksmith location". Chap came out same day and sorted it for £150 quid.
The rac key cover I had did eventually pay me back. But their solution involved recovering the car to a main dealer, authorisation and me producing the v5 and insurance certificate.

Hi @LostCarKeys did the AA come? I'm over the other side of town at the mo. If you're a Pokemon Go player I don't mind adding you and having a raid to take your mind off things.

Bit late if you've booked the locksmith - but 24hr car hire would be less than £250 - you could hire, complete your visits, go home, get spare keys, go back to pick up car - obviously factor in 300mls of petrol cost too.

Is there a shopping centre nearby where keys could be handed in?

Also a genius idea!

I've never had an iPhone, so had no idea that they could tell you where you'd been.

That's a very sensible suggestion.

I think looking for the key sounds like it's getting towards needle and haystack territory. I'd be working on the best way to get the spare key now, and I think this is it.

I would, though, have 1 more look in your bag. I have 'lost' my car key in my work bag on several occasions, inducing panic each time. I think I'm looking properly, and it's DEFINITELY not there. And then I start again, taking every single thing out of the bag - even in the pockets where I know it DEFINITELY isn't, and it always turns up.

Does it have your house key on the same key ring? Can you get into your house...?

Tipping your bag/s out isn't enough. You need to get in and feel every part of the inside, pull the lining out if it's not adhered, and do it for every bag and item of clothing, inside any packed shoes, toiletry bags, kids bags, every single thing. Check everyone's pockets and hoods. Look for clothing and bag pockets that you've never used or even realised they were there. Look in your dirty washing. It's really easy to rush looking when we are stressed (been there many times!) so start again and be methodical and thorough and get your kids to check after you. Somebody also needs to re-check the room.

I once hid our passports inside a folded up cagoule - you know the sort that folds into its own pocket. Four hours of emptying a packed car at the ferry port in France before I remembered what i had done. You've not done that have you?

It needs to be remembered that not everyone has a spare car key.

@LostCarKeys

I'm on neighbours if you tell me what part of Birmingham your in I could look to see if anyone has posted about lost car keys for you, I see a lot of posts for lost keys being found put up on there for my local area all the time

Not joking when I say, ask St Anthony to show you where your car keys are. Quiet your mind, close your eyes, ask him out loud. It's worth a shot?

You have my sympathy OP - a miserable kind of day!

Re-tracing your actions and steps (in your minds) as a group is probably your best bet.

However - as above- I have to say that St Anthony has been kind to us (a non-churchgoing family lacking in faith). A deeply felt prayer for car-keys (with no expectation of success) resulted (in seconds and after hours of searching) in their appearance in a pile of kindling.

How they got there - no-one knows. How I thought to look there - only St Anthony knows! I'll offer my (probably not valuable) prayers on your behalf.

May a finding happen for you and allow a visit to your grandmother!

I did this once. The key was on the windowsill behind the closed curtain in the hotel room. I had looked EVERYWHERE else!

Good luck OP. You have nothing to lose by saying the prayer of St Antony. I posted on here when I lost something and someone suggested it to me and I only found it afterwards! And I am as cynical as it comes.

could you get someone from home to send your key to you by courier

@LostCarKeys there is often a button/buzzer to press at the exit barrier to speak to someone for times when your ticket won't let you out etc.

I sometimes put my keys down in the boot if I’m getting a lot of bags out, could you have done this and then the car has locked itself - my car sometimes does this after a certain time period.

That's true. But OP does, which is why it's featuring in suggestions of the best course of action.

Pull out the drawers, they may have slipped down the back.

Where are your house keys? Are they on the same keyring? Have you looked behind the bedside tables under the bed? In the safe?

Are your kids little enough to have a buggy? I once lost car keys and searched all my bags and was panicking until I found them nested in the folded up hood. Perhaps also check inside rain cover?

@LostCarKeys also if needs be there are very regular trains from Bham New St to Coventry

Could you ask someone else to look in your bags for the keys? I know it sounds a bit strange but my OH once lost his passport and spent ages looking and looking. I found it quickly in a hidden, inner pocket of his suitcase. Sometimes you get a kind of blindness when looking for something, especially when a bit stressed or upset.

In case this is helpful, I've seen that Timpsons offer car key replacements for at least half the price of the main dealers and there are a few branches in Birmingham -- worth a phone call to the nearest? https://www.timpson.co.uk/services/car-keys#:~:text=There's%20no%20need%20to%20panic,replacement%20keys%20for%20your%20vehicle.