Man in a car parked outside my house all afternoon

[PyongyangKipperbang]

Since at least 2 pm. Terraces with on street parked so directly outside the house. He is has just been sat there all the time, engine on for half an hour then off again, presumably to stop the battery draining if he is using something electrical.

There are plenty of car parks in the area so no reason to be here. He saw my come back and go in the house so presumably its nothing to do with me, but its freaking me out a bit (and pissed me off as I had to park on another road!).

We are not on a road with shops or a school or doctors etc so no reason to be waiting there for someone for such a long time!

Worth taking the reg in case he comes back tomorrow do we think?

Presuming he’s paid his road tax he can park where he likes!! Non of your business whatsoever!! Maybe get a hobby as you’re clearly bored 🙄

When my kids used to go to school in the next town, I had numerous mornings/ evenings/ afternoons where I had to work in my car and couldn't really spend £££ sitting somewhere / or I had a call and needed to take it sitting in the car.
I think you are being paranoid.

I used to sit in the car for hours, sometimes all day, 13 hours , sometimes 7 till 10 am and 4 till 7 pm depending . Doing survey. Monitoring how many cars used the street, noting the time and partial reg. Sometimes, railway stations too, or car parks. Counting people going across the road , or on and off trains etc in and out of supermarkets or whatever. On residential streets , we often got aggressive people threatening us, as they thought we were from the Social Services. Or other ‘threats’ . Usually surveys to see if a pedestrian crossing was needed, or speed humps ..stuff like that. People felt threatened though..by me, clipboard, my coffee cup and iced bun ☺️

He's probably watching someone for benefit fraud.

It's probably someone in your street getting investigated for benefit fraud. They sit a bit away from the house they are investigating and see who is coming and going.

Meanwhile in the real world... I spoke to people at work and they all used the same word "Creepy". An hour or so I wouldnt have bothered or even noticed but he was there for 5 hours and didnt appear to be working, so it probably was some sort of surveillance. As I said before, there is a guy down the road on the opposite side who has been on disability benefits for as long as i have lived here (27 years) so maybe its him the man was watching (pointless as he never leaves the house).

But every non keyboard warrior I mentioned it to thought it was very odd.

And no I was not bored, I do have more things to worry about but it was on my radar and I couldnt unsee it. He didnt come back today so whatever it was is done and dusted. Do feel free to keep insulting me though if it makes any of you feel superior.

You are not unreasonable to be freaked out and no one should criticise you for being so.
That said, valid points have been made.
He can park legally wherever he wants.
And yes, idling is an offence but one which is unlikely to be enforced by the police.
IF he is an undercover anything then he's not very good at it.
Therefore he is either innocently unaware he may be intimidating anyone or he intentionally wants to be seen.
There is no harm in you noting the registration and model of the vehicle and even photographing it discreetly. At least you have it in the, hopefully unlikely, event that you need it.
Chat with your neighbours. (A good thing to do anyway.)
If he returns you can, if you feel confident enough, approach him and ask (politely)
if he would mind telling you why he is there.
He isn't obliged to tell you but, equally, if you are polite then the least you should expect is a polite rebuff
You can express the hope that he might understand that some people might be unsettled by it.
If he is rude or evasive then he'll at least realise that the watcher is also now the watched.
I disagree with the posters who say that ringing 101 is pointless because the police won't do anything.
It comes under potentially suspicious behaviour and they may well ask a patrol to enquire.
Again, he isn't obliged to tell them anything but he'll know he's on the radar.
Or he may explain he is on some kind of official business. (Police/Enforcement Agent/DWP)
The odds are that you have nothing to worry about but in the current climate it's far better than having something happen then to think, "If only I'd said something..."
Stay safe and don't have nightmares.

This is absolutely ridiculous OP. As mentioned you don't own the road but you clearly think you do if you think you have any business over who sits on it and for how long. What he's doing there has nothing to do with you. Being directly outside your house is immaterial. It is NOT your house he's in. I'm fairly certain if he was an opportunistic predator he probably wouldn't waste 3 hours on a street with nobody there. Your concern about your daughter is fair enough but seeing as you only mentioned that away down the thread, it clearly wasn't your first concern. If it was a woman sat there would you be twitching the curtains as much? Idling his car is probably because it's the middle of summer and he needs the AC on. I can't get over the entitlement of some people. There are a million reasons he might be there and the chances it's nefarious are so minimal. Poor man. Hope it's nothing bad.

I take it the conspicuous dangerous threatening stranger in the car has not been back for a second day then? 😅

You're also extremely rude and defensive to anyone who doesn't agree with you which leads me to believe you are a nosey entitled person. Seeing as you thought you were entitled to a challenge free opinion on here and only people kissing your arse weren't met with hostility. Leave people alone. Calling police because a man sat in his car somewhere for 3 hours? People are unbelievable.

Unless they were actually blocking my driveway or staring intently at my house I wouldn’t care.

It was longer than three hours, but I have been reliably informed that nit picking must be my hobby.....along side curtain twitching too it seems!

It isn't about feeling superior OP, it's about not being paranoid. If he was parked outside your house and watching you or your house, that'd be a very different story. But he's just in a car, existing outside your house. Nothing you have said suggests he's in any way interested in you, your house, or your daughter. He's clearly nothing to do with you but you seem to be wanting it to be by creating the impression of threat from someone who by all accounts, is ignoring you.

Annoying as it is, he is entitled to park there. You cannot ask him why he is there.

I’ve had this a few times outside my house. In my case, it is usually from early evening until the early hours of the morning, often accompanied by “doof doof” music as well as engine noise. I was much too afraid to go out and say anything as the man did not look friendly and I live alone with my 11 year old daughter. At first I assumed some sort of drug dealing but surely he’d be quieter about it?

Concerned about what? People are allowed to just sit in their cars you know. Even men. It’s not illegal. Perhaps spend a bit less of your day gawping out the window at what everyone else is doing.

My DF used to do fraud surveillance for the benefits agency back in the 1970s - he would park and watch houses where suspected benefit fraud was taking place. Disability claimants doing gardening etc, or people claiming they were single and sneaking a partner in every night.

Then he had to go to court and give evidence. We used to get abusive phone calls at home from people he testified against.

Must have been super boring back then with no cell phones to scroll while you waited.

I'm guessing someone parked outside your house often gets a comment, explaining why your daughter, on arriving home asked "Why there is a guy just sitting outside the house?!".

To clarify, always with engine off till I got an EV.

I posted about my former driving instructor doing this once on here years ago and was told I was insane and needed professional help. I’d basically told him I was finding a new instructor a couple of weeks before as it wasn’t working out. He had zero reason to be parked up outside of my house at all (we don’t live somewhere people would be randomly passing by, you’d have to majorly go out of your way to come here). Posters made up all sorts of reasons why he might specifically have chosen my house to sit outside of but none of them really made sense because, as I say, my house just isn’t the sort of place people pass by. He also weirdly did it around the time I’d ordinarily be leaving to collect my DC so usually I’d have had to walk by him but on that day MIL was collecting them. He sat there for almost an hour I think, I was freaked out.

Everyone I knew IRL said it was weird but on here nope, I was the weird one. I still cringe a bit when I see his car around.

Calm down. Go to the car and say: Can I help you?
He’ll probably apologise and drive away when confronted or say that he’s communicating with his workplace.
If he doesn’t drive off then ring the police who will probably ask OP whether she has approached him

Maybe the PIP police waiting to see if one of your neighbours genuinely use crutches.

Sounds like a private detective or maybe someone checking up on benefit fraud.

And they will be there because some saddo reported them to start with.