Missing people and the Police

I guess the likelihood of five young people together having gone missing is pretty remote, to be fair to the police.

Terrible tragedy and TBH I'm not sure how I feel about this. As a parent in the same situation I'd be worried but I can understand with there being 5, aged between 20 and 30 and no reports of an accident, the police's response.

I think the police response is understandable, given the age of the young people concerned and all sign of the accident was hidden by trees.

Five young people going missing together should have rung very loud alarm bells.

Sad sad situation. Similar happened in Scotland a few years ago after a car went off dual carriageway and young couple were not found for a few days - I’m sure the inquest found both were alive for a day or so. Police must receive numerous such calls about missing people but where/when should they respond. I hope the two still alive recover.

Having driven some of those roads around the south Wales valleys it’s easy to run off the road into forest land and be invisible. If the route they were taking was not known finding would be a needle in a haystack.

There are now systems being developed where if a car crashes it automatically alerts emergency services with location. I’m not sure if any are active in the UK, I seem to remember it was linked to a new EU navigation system, anyone else have any more information on that.

Yes, I’m sure an Apple Watch is able to ring the emergency services.

Germanshepherdsmum

I guess the likelihood of five young people together having gone missing is pretty remote, to be fair to the police.

I'm puzzled by 'to be fair to the police'.

The likelihood is indeed pretty remote, bearing in mind young peoples propensity for social media/phone usage, and I would have thought an immediate search would have been initiated.

I'm not one to criticise the police as a first reaction but FIVE people must be unique and should have raised alarm bells.

Katie59

Having driven some of those roads around the south Wales valleys it’s easy to run off the road into forest land and be invisible. If the route they were taking was not known finding would be a needle in a haystack.

There are now systems being developed where if a car crashes it automatically alerts emergency services with location. I’m not sure if any are active in the UK, I seem to remember it was linked to a new EU navigation system, anyone else have any more information on that.

The mother of one of the passengers, now fighting for her life in hospital, said she drove past several times and didn't see the car. Yes, a needle in a haystack.

The accident was on the A48 a main road so very unfortunate that the car was hidden by a dip and trees. I really don’t think the police are at fault the car was only spotted by helicopter. One of the girls Mums said she drove past it herself and saw nothing.
It’s a terrible accident I do hope the two who survived recover.

Even if the police had taken their disappearance seriously, where would they have looked? Thousands of cars drove past the spot where the car went off the road and did not spot it.

A tragic accident, sometimes there is no one to blame.

Katie59

Having driven some of those roads around the south Wales valleys it’s easy to run off the road into forest land and be invisible. If the route they were taking was not known finding would be a needle in a haystack.

There are now systems being developed where if a car crashes it automatically alerts emergency services with location. I’m not sure if any are active in the UK, I seem to remember it was linked to a new EU navigation system, anyone else have any more information on that.

This terrible accident wasn’t in the woods in the valleys though, it was just outside Cardiff and only a few metres from the road. Here’s a picture, it was in the trees behind the green fence. I’m not sure the police can be blamed, thousands of cars pass that route daily, it was a case of hiding in plain sight unfortunately. This type of incident does happen, a few years ago a man’s body was in his car on a major roundabout for a week before he was found, and I read about a body being found in a car in a canal where the driver had disappeared twenty years before. Car tracking systems that send out a signal when crashed are a godsend for the future. In the meantime, I’m sure all of us are thinking of the families of those poor young people.

Delila

Five young people going missing together should have rung very loud alarm bells.

Yes it should.

Katie59

Having driven some of those roads around the south Wales valleys it’s easy to run off the road into forest land and be invisible. If the route they were taking was not known finding would be a needle in a haystack.

There are now systems being developed where if a car crashes it automatically alerts emergency services with location. I’m not sure if any are active in the UK, I seem to remember it was linked to a new EU navigation system, anyone else have any more information on that.

No the road was not one in the valley one but quite near houses and a roundabout with what looked like CCTV up on the poles , what I can't understand is that they tracked them to a seaside resort they knew that had been to they must have been on on the M4, then why they couldn't track the return journey.

It's a road we use regularly and it's understandable how the many hundreds of cars passing did not notice anything, it's on a sliproad which drops to 30 before reaching the roundabout, so not a fast road.
So sad for the families concerned.

Riverwalk

Germanshepherdsmum

I guess the likelihood of five young people together having gone missing is pretty remote, to be fair to the police.

I'm puzzled by 'to be fair to the police'.

The likelihood is indeed pretty remote, bearing in mind young peoples propensity for social media/phone usage, and I would have thought an immediate search would have been initiated.

I'm not one to criticise the police as a first reaction but FIVE people must be unique and should have raised alarm bells.

What I meant was that five young people are more likely to have decided to go and find some fun together rather than harm having come to them.

A few years ago in Hull, a car of young people hit a tree on an urban road with houses on both sides during the night. The youngsters in the car were found the next morning when people were out and about all unfortunately dead.
The noise of the impact was presumed not to have been loud enough to alert people who were asleep. A great tragedy for their families and non were from far away.

This young man went out looking. He saw the tyre tracks going over the roundabout. Then he found the car.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11831023/Man-best-friend-dead-Cardiff-car-crash-slams-police-missed-wreckage.html

I wouldn't expect 5 young people to literally go dark... not contacting friends, family or updating social media... not all 5 for at the same moment.

I think this is a tragedy that should have been taken very seriously from the beginning and I truly hope none of those young people died or could die from wounds that could have been treated if found earlier

Family should be heard, they know their relatives, we can't just have a model of a person to work around or a model of a situation... investigate concerns

It terrifies me, this could be my own child one day and if I wasn't heard I'd be losing my mind

I don't think we can blame the police.

None of the young people were on any kind of vulnerable register: they were all fit, well, capable: I too would make the assumption that it was too early for an all out search so very early on as in above post because

"What I meant was that five young people are more likely to have decided to go and find some fun together rather than harm having come to them."

Why do we always look for someone to "Blame"? this was an awful, tragic, accident: its sheer chance the accident was concealed from a really well used road.

Looking earlier would not have made any difference to the outcome. Yes, in an ideal world there would have been extensive earlier searches, but on a Friday night we know all too well from police stats what the police are engaged in of a night - call outs for serious crime or domestics or city centre drinking bout and aggression resulting from the alcohol, or the huge number of sad people with MH problems or found in other kinds of distress -

they just cant cover them all at the moment.

There are now systems being developed where if a car crashes it automatically alerts emergency services with location. I’m not sure if any are active in the UK, I seem to remember it was linked to a new EU navigation system, anyone else have any more information on that

There was an accident near here a few years ago.
One of the cars involved had this built in and alerted the emergency services when the driver didn't respond.

On a personal level, and more accessible to us as individuals, my Google Pixel phone also has this feature.
It's in the Settings under "Safety and Emergency."
Worth checking your own?

Yes, it is a very tragic story, three young people dead (did they die on impact or could they have been saved?) and two more fighting for their lives in hospital.

They had been on quite a journey, at a nightclub in Newport, then down to Porthcawl then back to the other side of Cardiff again.
So I can understand the police might not have known where to start looking but they should have taken this more seriously; the time lapse was quite significant.

It was obvious it was unusual for them to go missing as parents were phoning the police, worried that their children had not returned home ot been in touch.

Germanshepherdsmum

Riverwalk

Germanshepherdsmum

I guess the likelihood of five young people together having gone missing is pretty remote, to be fair to the police.

I'm puzzled by 'to be fair to the police'.

The likelihood is indeed pretty remote, bearing in mind young peoples propensity for social media/phone usage, and I would have thought an immediate search would have been initiated.

I'm not one to criticise the police as a first reaction but FIVE people must be unique and should have raised alarm bells.

What I meant was that five young people are more likely to have decided to go and find some fun together rather than harm having come to them.

But surely they'd be posting what they were doing on Facebook, Instagram or other social media sites.

I'm sure at least one or two of them, if not all, would have been in touch with their families too.

Wyllow3 - a very reasonable post. The police are swamped with the detritus of grubby lives. You can’t blame them.