Neighbours sat in car for hours on end with engine running. It this weird

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Names changed as could be outing

we got some new neighbours across from us about 6 months ago. A man and a women. I was talking to another neighbour and she asked if I had noticed they sit in their car for hours on end with the engine on. Now I had noticed them a few times sat in the car but though nothing if it. The car is parked outside this neighbours house a lot.

Now the neighbour has said to me DH and I have been more aware of it, especially with doing lots of work in the garden. And the fumes from the car as well have been more noticeable since we have been outside a lot. Neighbour is a bit nearer so has noticed them doing it during the day and at night as well. Usually between midnight and 6am.

Basically they sit in the car sometimes it’s the man, sometimes the women, sometimes both. The engine is running all the time (yesterday it was about 7 hours). They seem to be always on their phones and then one of them will get out go in the house and then come back out again into the car. Sometimes they will just get out of the car, walk round it and get back in.

yesterday the other neighbours husband went out and asked them to turn the engine off as his son has asthma and the car is right outside his window and was told very forcefully to mind his own fucking business.

now if it was not for the engine being on all the time I probably would just shrug and think “each to there own”. But this is very strange is it not?

I believe they are also commuting an offence by using the phone in the car. Let the police know, perhaps they'll check on them

I’d report this. An engine sitting idling is illegal and I’d find the noise intensely irritating. Not to mention the pollution.
Can’t imagine what possible reason people would have to do this unless it’s that ‘hot boxing’ thing that someone else mentioned.
I very much doubt speaking to them will do anything.

My thoughts immediately went to drug dealing.

Perhaps no heat or elec In house and are charging phones or warming up or they're smoking without standing outside.

If i had to take a guess, i’d say drug dealing or some other illegal activity.

Sometimes if i am on a call, i stay sat in my car for a few minutes once parked up but i wouldn’t go and sit in my car for no reason, especially in the middle of the night.

Whatever is going on, they don’t want anybody else to hear the conversations is my guess.

Well our 24 Yr old neighbour does exactly this from 1am until around 4am (I'm up with my babies lol) and we know it's because he's smoking weed or whatever and his mum won't let him inside.
Why tf he has to run his engine though....no idea. We have to keep a diary of him doing it as recently other cars have driven into our street and I think he might be dealing too. At night it stinks of weed and car fumes. Bloody nightmare.

I am invested in how this turns out.

I used to live somewhere where a neighbour had his engine running for a long time in the middle of the night. He dealt in stolen goods and it was so that if they heard police were about him and his mates could make a quick getaway.

Hot boxing? 🤣

My immediate thought is drugs. Hilarious that some of the commentators on here think people
stay up all night in their car because it has air conditioning or Wi-Fi!
A good friend of mine use to date a detective (this was in London), and we used to love asking questions about crimes he was working on tbh we really didn’t see many crimes in our local area. I’ll always remember what he told us - when you go to bed a different breed of people start waking up, these people inhibit the nighttime. And that basically we have no idea what’s going on in our own street, and that staying up till 4am to go clubbing and arriving home in a taxi doesn’t expose you to that world.

You’ve got a drug dealer/ or drug maker as a neighbour. Maybe they are cooking meth in the house…. Not sure if meth is still the street drug of choice it’s probably something with ketamine in now.

If you know for sure that it is a council house then get all the neighbours to report to council with dates and times. We have some actual criminals in our street. They were robbing all the vans in their own area!! The man went to prison for 6 months, released and back out again. But rearrested as not supposed to be at the house. They now go on the rob on the next estate over.

The council are aware and do keep the men away.

as yours are Actually being a nuisance with noise the council will have more powers. Also report to 101 online. If all the neighbours use the same crime reference number then it will build a picture.

Yes, Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 states that "You must not leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while the vehicle is stationary on a public road,"

Are they spies? 😂

I used to live next to a drug dealer but he never dealt from the house. He had a barber shop round the corner where I assume he was doing his business from. I'll get flamed for this but he was actually a good neighbour cos we had no trouble from him, kept himself to himself and was quiet. Apparently the previous neighbours had a kid who would make a noise banging drums. I know which neighbour I'd prefer.

lol I was going to ask have you checked it out with ChatGPT?

Could they be trying to get some heat if they can't afford it in the house

Err no it IS weird 🙄🙄 very weird

Could they have a young child that doesn't sleep & they put it in a seat in the car with the engine on to sooth them?

Probably not & it's drugs related but just a thought.

This was my first thought.

No kids

😂me too!

I can't find a logical reason why they keep the engine running. Even if they are drug dealing and a copper came along and they drove off quickly without having to start the car up - it's not like the copper couldn't easily find out who they are!

I’d put a ring door bell up or other CCTV, might deter them from sitting in car and selling drugs… (talk about shitting on your own doorstep)….
You may have been told this already but I would be reporting to 101 / discretely filming & keeping a detailed diary every time they’re out there… Say to police they’re dealing drugs from their vehicle, report to council too…
Absolutely dreadful and I wouldn’t want them in my street where my family (children) were because of the type of people they’re attracting to the area!

I would be writing everything down, including details re visitors to the car and report it to the police

Rang 101 and the police could not be less interested. They said as long as the car was taxed and insured they were doing nothing wrong. Didn’t seem concerned re the packages and told me to report to environmental health for the engine being left one.

Mind you I am not surprised
it took the police two weeks to come and see my friend’s daughter who has been threatened with a knife by a lad at the same school on the way home. They seemed to want the school to deal with the whole thing (school were brilliant) and not get involved. Didn’t matter the lad had form for threatening kids never with a knife before). They implied my friend was the unreasonable one for wanting them to get involved.

another time a guy attempted to mug me and the policeman who came out was telling me off for hitting him over the head with my plaster cast that was on my arm at the time as he could have me arrested for assault.