Don't accept lifts from strange men.

This may have been genuine kindness, but it doesn’t matter what age or gender you are, you should never, ever get into a car with a stranger. This is not something new. Even in the 1950s, when I was a child, there were predators out there, as police records show.
Be safe, don’t accept a lift from a stranger.

As with most of our generation, I was warned about accepting lifts from strangers and even refused a lift from a neighbour as a child. I was also terrified by an attempt by a kerb crawler when walking home from secondary school.
However, in more recent years, I was out on my motorbike and had to abandon it at the side of a country road due to a sudden totally flat tyre (caused by a nail - grrrrr). Finding I had the wrong number on my phone for the breakdown service, I was trudging along the road home when a disreputable looking van pulled in beside me and I was dreading how to deal with the possibility of being offered a lift. I was slightly relieved that it was a woman who was driving, who said she guessed it was me who had abandoned "that gorgeous bike", said she had also been a biker and knew well how dreadful it was to get a puncture and asked if she could drop me off somewhere. (There is an unofficial 'policy' within the biking community to support fellow bikers in trouble). She duly did at what I thought was the nearest garage, and I then gratefully accepted. It turned out it was no longer a garage but instead a car wash, and for the 2nd time that day I accepted a lift from a stranger - one of the staff at the car wash, who had a portable air compressor and who took me back to my bike and filled up the errant tyre with enough air that I managed to get to the garage I take my car to, which was on the way home, and I was able to scrounge another tyreful of air to get home.
So to answer the OP, I actually don't know what I'd have done in your scenario!

Just on a lighter note,an older friend ( very ancient , older than me) said she had been leaving her back door open at night for years but no bloke had come in and ‘ravished’ her yet. I know it wouldn’t be funny if it really happened but she had me in stitches !

Sad insight into modern life. I wouldn't accept a lift from anyone I don't know as too old now to fight back should it prove necessary. However, my late husband who was in the Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm, relied on kind people who stopped for him when trying to get home. He was always in uniform - they were never allowed civilian clothes in his days - with his sailor hat on the side if his backpack. He met some lively people and, had henit been able to hitch hike home, on his low wages we would have seen a lot less of each other. My friend and I also got lifts if we missed our last train/bus home and really never thought twice about it. Happy Days !

It amuses me when the programme Race Across the World talks about Car Sharing when it’s actually hitchhiking they’re talking about. I always wonder about the risks especially if the competitors are both women.
Having said that I used to hitchhike in my younger days but it was a different world then.

I used to live in the Caribbean and it was very common to offer lifts to hitchhikers and people on the road. I often did it but it was a small community. I don think I would offer it accept a lift now.

So sad that we're all mostly of the same mind and would not accept a lift from a stranger. We only hear about the bad news and very probably the person offering the lift was just being helpful and considerate but nowadays we all have to be careful.

Not at all odd, just very wise. Something taught ‘don’t accept lifts from strangers’!
No matter what your age there are just as many weirdos out there!
You got home wet but safe!
He might have been a genuine Good Samaritan but the risk is just not worth taking. Which is sad as it’s always been that way for us women,😢😡

I spent a great deal of my adult life in Safeguarding so I think I’m more aware than most of the dangers that can lurk for the unwary. Yet, I have (and still would) accepted lifts from strangers - and those who know me on here are aware that I have also taken complete strangers into my home on many occasions, but in either case I always calculate the risks. Only once in fifty years have I misjudged a situation, and even then I handled it with no harm done.

Funnily enough my family think of me as being risk averse!! 😂

Nowadays I wouldn't accept a lift if the person was unknown to me.
Years ago when in my 20s I had an appointment in Edinburgh. As my boyfriend and I had quite often hitch-hiked around Scotland, I stopped to offer two girls a lift to the city centre.

When they got in and thanked me for stopping, I realised despite their long hair, they were men!!
Thank goodness they were friendly and no problem. But that was the last time I offered a lift!

He sounds a real catch
🙂

My friend's husband is a total creep .
I don't fancy him .
Before I met him , my friend told me that he has never been faithful to her or at least- he wasn't when younger .

She also said , I'm sorry if he's rude to you usually when friends come round he storms off upstairs .

Instead , he settles down with us and joins in our chat only too pleased to make tea or open a bottle of wine !

I wouldn't risk saying yes to him !

Never accept a lift from any person or people you don't know.
Fred West used to take Rose out and about looking for victims, knowing they would feel safer that it was a couple, and not just a lecherous man.

pascal30

Esmay

On each occasion , the guys weren't bullying me nor flashing - I know the difference !

It's happened with and without my shopping trolley so I don't think that I looked particularly elderly nor vulnerable .

They wanted sex and they said so in no uncertain terms !

And I regularly refuse a lift from my friend's husband , because he makes embarrassing passes at me and has done for a decade !
He wants me to run away to France with him and for us to become artists !

I think the idea of going to France to become artists is very appealing..pity he's married and you don't fancy him though!!

If he has been doing it for a decade I suspect he never expects you to say "yes" perhaps you should, if only to see his reaction.

Esmay

On each occasion , the guys weren't bullying me nor flashing - I know the difference !

It's happened with and without my shopping trolley so I don't think that I looked particularly elderly nor vulnerable .

They wanted sex and they said so in no uncertain terms !

And I regularly refuse a lift from my friend's husband , because he makes embarrassing passes at me and has done for a decade !
He wants me to run away to France with him and for us to become artists !

I think the idea of going to France to become artists is very appealing..pity he's married and you don't fancy him though!!

HelterSkelter1 -
A place where we don't have fluoride in our water , but a natural source of Viagra !

Two of my friends run a very nice cafe and one of their customers spins out his coffee time into two hours of non - stop sex talk .
They are at least 30 years younger than him and find it really tedious .
Last time , he found me diverting ! It took me by surprise .
There won't be a next time .
In my view , he's one of many men who isn't dealing with the male menopause well and is trying too hard .

If you recognised someone as a neighbour and you saw them walking slowly with a stick into the estate where you both live would you stop and offer them a lift or whiz by?

This happened to me several times a few years ago. Then the woman ambushed me in the garden and asked me to accept a delivery she was expecting next day. It was an all day delivery slot and she was quite miffed when I told her that I would be having a nap in the afternoon so if the package had not come by say 2pm I would not hear a knock. She told me "its a pity you cant do a favour for a neighbour since your going to be in". I reminded her of all the times she had sped past me in her car when she knew where I lived and remarked that "favours go both ways".

Also once in these modern cars they have central locking, so impossible to open your door if you did want to get out.

But I always feel sorry when I see older ladies stood in the cold at bus stops, I think that could be my mum, but then I know my mum would never have accepted lifts from strangers.

When I was a teenager I would accept lifts from anyone. Nothing nasty ever happened but these days I wouldn’t dream of accepting a lift from anyone I didn’t know. I think in the 50 s and 60 s we were more innocent and naive and that explains the absolute horror when you heard about killers at that time .Now it seems to happen constantly. Knives , guns, machetes- house breakings, deliberate fires have become everyday occurrences. Sure we had gangs but on the whole they targeted their crime and wouldn’t attack a vulnerable person.

Thank you for your responses. The man didn't smile when he spoke to me, he didn't come across as friendly. I had wondered if he thought I was someone else. It was pouring with rain so I had my hood up and head down.
I had taken some change so that I could get a taxi home but decided to walk.

Crikey Esmay where do you live?

I'd have jumped in with gratitude.

On each occasion , the guys weren't bullying me nor flashing - I know the difference !

It's happened with and without my shopping trolley so I don't think that I looked particularly elderly nor vulnerable .

They wanted sex and they said so in no uncertain terms !

And I regularly refuse a lift from my friend's husband , because he makes embarrassing passes at me and has done for a decade !
He wants me to run away to France with him and for us to become artists !

Esmay it may not be sexually based but more bullying violence towards and power over a vulnerable person. And as older people we will be regarded as vulnerable because we can't run fast or are short or maybe frail and couldn't fight back.

If it's flashing well I have been flashed at many stages of my life and I don't think age plays any part in it. Just flashing a female in an area where they are unlikely to be challenged is the trigger.

When I was in my teens and twenties - I had my share of unpleasant experiences with sex pests .
I certainly didn't expect it in my fifties , sixties and seventies , but it's happened to me several times .

Yes , even with my shopping trolley !