Cigarette butts - burgurlar marking?

jkwon

Hi All,

I might be being paranoid here but hear me out.

For the third time this morning in the last couple of weeks. I have found two all-white cigarette buts outside the front of my car. They are pointing lengthways away from the car perfectly next to each other.

Third time I have found them in the same position. Now it seems illogical to me that this is a coincidence. As 1. No one smokes there and 2. Even if they did two find two cigarette buts in exactly the same position three times in a short space of time just seems too much of a coincidence.

My car is in a space right next to the exterior wall of my house and 3 or 4 metres immediately to the left of the front of the car is the front wall of my house and front door. (Strange layout on an estate with many houses and flats.)

House is detached and we often have the front window open (next to front door and just round the corner from the car) for the cat (listed bu8lding and not allowed a cat flap?)

What are people's thoughts on this?

Also worth noting there is a path immediately outside my front door which acts as a thoroughfare to another part of the estate.

My house is very overlooked by a lot of other properties and there is a light above the front door which is always on day and night. It is all fairly well lit.

I just can't comprehend how these same two cigarettes keep ending up in this position - same brand and everything always perfectly straight and next to each other!

I'm going to buy a steering wheel lock as a visible deterrent just hope that if I am being targeted it is for the car (or to get keys through the window) and not to burgal the house...!

Any advice much appreciated and sorry for any typos - on my mobile.

SG27

I think once a burglar has found a good target to burgle they would just remember the the car and location. Or if they wanted to inform prospective fellow burglars of the oppotunity the easiest way would be to just tell them of the car make and location, or send a photo? Im not sure what purpose there would be to marking it with cigarette buts?

Probably the same guy comes and stands next to your car and smokes and drops his butts in the same place.

jkwon

Thanks for the reply. I mean I hope that is the case I just know the smokers nearby (of which I am 1) and no one stands there and it's a very odd place to leave them. They are also exact same length and same location.

I hope you are right however!

tacpot12

It does seem odd, but I wonder if it could be the wind, combined with a smoker's habit? e.g. someone getting off a bus, lights a cigarette which they always happen to finish around the same point on their walk home and then discard it, the wind then blows their butts onto your property where they stop lined up due to local wind shielding around the car?


If you get a cheap motion detector-based CCTV camera you might catch someone if they are doing this deliberately.

jkwon

tacpot12 wrote: »

It does seem odd, but I wonder if it could be the wind, combined with a smoker's habit? e.g. someone getting off a bus, lights a cigarette which they always happen to finish around the same point on their walk home and then discard it, the wind then blows their butts onto your property where they stop lined up due to local wind shielding around the car?


If you get a cheap motion detector-based CCTV camera you might catch someone if they are doing this deliberately.

Good point Tacpot. I have got one of them that we had to monitor a kitten when we first got it. I'm going to put it in the so die above the car and get a CCTV sticker for the car.

We live in a pretty safe area but there has been come car burglaries on another part of our estate recently which has made me more suspicious of this.

EachPenny

jkwon wrote: »

House is detached and we often have the front window open (next to front door and just round the corner from the car) for the cat (listed bu8lding and not allowed a cat flap?)

I think I might be more concerned about leaving a house window open than the risk of someone stealing your car.

Have you spoken to the Council about having a cat flap? Have they actually said 'no'?

If leaving the window open is the only option then have you fitted it with some form of restrictor which allows the cat in and out, but would stop a human climbing in? Even if you are always at home when the window is open it wouldn't necessarily stop an opportunist thief quickly getting into the house if they see something worth taking.

Doozergirl

We've moved on from smoke signals.

If I want someone to look at something, I take a photo of it and send it to the person I want to. They receive it within seconds.

If I want someone to know where I am, I send my actual location via Maps or screenshot it.

I'm not going to make something with something that regularly gets left or could be immediately removed or blown away. I believe Hansel and Gretel learned that lesson.

I think you are being paranoid. I think these things are shared on social media by the same people who share messages like "don't accept friends requests from X because she's a hacker" on social media.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having decent security. Thee is nothing wrong with some concern, but what you describe is silly. If they were marking your car for some reason, it's obviously not working!

Having security doesn't always stop bad things from happening, but being worried about things doesn't prevent them from happening at all. It just ruins your mood while you're worrying about something that isn't happening. Secure your car and house to the best of your ability and stop worrying.