Call the police?? Worried about stranger

[prawncocktail2]

Not sure if I’m being overly cautious but wouldn’t want to risk not reporting it?

I regularly go over the bridge that runs over j29a of the m1. Very high bridge that looks over the motorway. Just gone past and there’s a young lad maybe 16/17 sat on the pavement with his legs up, elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. He looks like he’s stressed. He’s dressed all black with his head up. I just feel uneasy that he’s sat on the pavement like that so close to the bridge? What would you do?

Not sure if he’s still there but I’m not able to get there and check right now but police will be checking to see if he’s still there and ok

Well done you may have saved a life

Thank you for calling them

well done

Just worried they’ll think I’ve wasted a call, of course it’s not a waste if he needs help, but in case he’s moved on. But like PP said, it’s better that someone goes to see if he’s there than not and something happening. He only looked young :(

What would you have done if mumsnet wasn’t around to ask? In future, pretend it doesn’t exist and trust your instincts. You wasted valuable time going home then posting here. You might think that’s harsh, but it’s true.

Absolutely not a waste of a call. As pp said, you may well have saved his life.

well, he clearly wasnt well, alone at night on a bridge

I agree. I was home quickly after seeing him so called just after I put this up, I just couldn’t find anywhere to pull in. I just wondered in my mind if he was having a bit of a think up there watching cars go by but you just never know. Thanks everyone

Well done for calling them and thank you for caring x

Christ sake!!!!!

Why didnt you call 999 straight away

Instead of ‘Oh i will wait till i get to my destination and then ask on mumsnet’

The mind Boggles !!!!!

Do you not have Bluetooth?

Yes you’re right. He was just hunched over with his hood up sat on the pavement up there

Hopefully he’s ok

Well done OP. You may have saved a life. Even if it's nothing, you wouldn't want that on your conscience knowing you could have helped but didn't make that call x

Oh to be perfect...

I'm a Police Despatcher & can assure you did totally the right thing and even if they don't find him or he's fine they'd never think you wasted their time

Far better to have them go out & potentially give him the help he needs than drag him out the river because noone bothered

In a case like that always err on the side of caution - always

I hope the kid is ok x

As the Mum of a teen boy - thank you for doing this. They say it takes a village to raise a child and sometimes the village has to do this. I hope they manage to find him and get his difficulty sorted out.

@prawncocktail2 my DH laughs at me as I’m often calling 999 or 101 after seeing concerning stuff. But I’ll never stop as you never know and I’d always want someone to look out for me or my loved ones if they had the slightest inkling of concern. No one ever needs to worry about wasting emergency services time if they have a genuine concern about safety or crime ❤️

You did a good thing OP

You've done the right thing. I hope he's ok 🙏

I'm sorry if this comes across as me being an uncaring arsehole. But if you ever see a sight like this, don't pull up to speak to the person. Too many people use this as bait to mug or hijack. Which is vile as it means too many passer bys will see something like this and not dwell on it.

You did the right thing, absolutely, get to safety and call the professionals the first chance you get.

I hope he's OK. I do have a little boy and I'd hope if he ever found himself in this state it's someone like you that takes notice and cares.

Christ let’s hope the lad was able to wait for you to drive to your destination and post on MN about it before bothering to ring anyone…

Call. Similar thing happened to me a long time ago - no idea what the outcome was but the police did turn up and took it seriously.