Were you ever approached by someone when you were younger/asked if you needed a lift?

Hank Scorpio

After reading this sad thread, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056328211, it got me thinking about my youth.

Once me and a friend walked from his house to mine and a guy in a car pulled up and asked if we needed a lift, luckily we didn't since we were outside my house. I honestly don't know what we would had said if we weren't.

Another time me and a friend were playing hurling and the ball went in front of some mans car and he dragged me through 3 or 4 backgardens, luckily a neighbour saw him. 2 girls I used to know were approached by men in cars asking them for a lift aswell.

Im living in a small enough village so looking back I find it strange and also thankful I never got in that car.

Does anyone else have similar stories from their childhood?

joshrogan

Ye my parents friends who know me offer me lifts back home all the time if im walking home, it is pretty scary if you dont know them and you think they're trying to abduct a 17 year old boy but luckily enough i havent been abducted yet *crosses fingers*.

Needler

Yes several times, I accepted the lifts and nothing bad ever came of it. they never touched me. Instead they brought me to where I asked to be dropped off. I would have been 10 or younger at the time, have also accepted lifts from strangers quite recently

Paedophiles only go for the nice looking boys so I had nothing to worry about

mikemac

Several times a year in the regional forums you'll read hysterical threads of children being approached.

The driver always has a van and it's always white
I was hearing the same white van stories when I was a young 'un

landsleaving

Yep, in a village in Leitrim while walking down the longest road in the world (tm Leitrim Coco) someone pulled in and asked if I was going into town... wasn't gonna say no to that with another hour of walking ahead. Turned out he was the taxi driver who'd dropped me off the day before, lovely guy too.

Always trust strangers kids, don't let the scaremongers mong you into walking

Kojak

Was never approached when I was young.

I mustn't have been the kiddie fiddlers choice. Ah well......

Griffen262

I read a post on here before about two kids being followed up a quite road by a man with a chainsaw a few years ago.. :eek:

SarahBeep!

Guy pulled up in a truck and asked me for directions, was only about 14 at the time. Asked if I was going that way and if I wanted a lift. Lucily I was going home which meant going left at the top of the road, if I had been going to my best friends house (which was right around the corner from where he asked for the directions) because I probably would have said yes! Didn't even realise until a few days later he could have been a total nutjob.

Needler

SarahBeep! wrote: »

Didn't even realise until a few days later he could have been a total nutjob.

Did he give any indications of being a nutjob?

KathleenMcCabe

was approached back in mid 70's when i was 5 or 6.
I was walking home from the shop - just up the road from the house. When i refused the lift and told the man in the car that my house was just up the road, he said... "it's ok - i'm a friend of your parents". Again i said no and he drove off. When i got home, i went into the house and told my ma and da who told me that i did the right thing and introduced me to their friend in the sitting room - the same guy who stopped to give me a lift.

It's good practice to educate kids not to head off with strangers but its even much more important to educate them, instead of living in fear, on how to deal with possible situations and not to be victims in any circumstance.

SarahBeep!

Needler wrote: »

Did he give any indications of being a nutjob?

Do you not thing it's strange a lorry driver offering a young girl a lift? It's not like it was late at night or anything.
What if I'd been the crazy one? Would he wanna put himself in a position where he could be accused of abducting me/abusing me/raping me??


Again, I'm not saying he was a nutjob :P but a lot of these people seem perfectly normal. For all I know he could have just wanted to pay me back for the directions or he could have left me in a ditch along the motorway. Just saying I'd rather not take the chance.

Duddy

No:( WHATS WRONG WITH ME. AM I UGLY?! *sob*

wandatowell

mikemac wrote: »

Only sexy kids get offered lifts

Were you a sexy kid mikey???

I bet you weren't but you were easy so all the kiddy fiddlers came looking for ya

mackg

Were you ever approached by someone when you were younger/asked if you needed a lift?

The whole time, "mister for the last time we live in a bungalow we don't need an elevator"

discus

I remember a few times being offered lifts off people in my area - I was never approached, rather it would happen that I might be talking to someone at a busstop (I was a chatty child) and if someone stopped to pick them up, they offered me a lift. I always figured that if something happened, I'd find a way out of it. Brave kid!

Hasmunch

What has been found to be the primary cause of paedophilia?

Answer:

sexy children

mattjack

Griffen262 wrote: »

I read a post on here before about two kids being followed up a quite road by a man with a chainsaw a few years ago.. :eek:

:eek:I read about that post....one kid walked back down the road with the chainsaw and a bag,a large bag.Mansized bag.

CardBordWindow

Hasmunch wrote: »

What has been found to be the primary cause of paedophilia?

Answer:

sexy children

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/456474931_0356ba4a8d.jpg

Uriel.

Not "offered" a lift per sé but:

A couple of weeks before my communion there had been a number of attempted abductions in the (Dublin) city and my parents sat me down to tell me the dangers of been offered a lift and to never take them etc...

Anyway roll on a few weeks later just after my communion and my Aunt was up and she asked me to go over to the shops to get a newspaper and gave me extra money to pick up some sweets or whatever, so I stroll on to the shops (about a 10 minute walk). The walk was completely enclosed with houses on all sides, so plenty of people would have been around although no one was on the street at the time.

Anyway, a really battered old car comes down the road from behind me really really slowly, as it passes me it seems to get even slower and it is crammed full of people and they are all staring out smiling at me. In my head I was like, who the fnuck are these. The car gets about 150/200metres past me and pulls in, I continue to walk a few more steps and notice the back door closest to me ever so slightly open and the people in the car are craning their heads to look directly at me out the back window.

The warnings my folks gave me immediately come to mind and I pretend to look at my watch (didn't have one on) make some sort of mad exaggerated face "wow, is that the time" and I turn back to walk towards home, a few seconds later I turn around and the car is moving on and I see the door being opened fully and slammed shut as it is moving.

I'll never know what would have happened that day had I kept walking towards the car and had my parents not gave me the warnings. I often think to this day, could I have been buried somewhere in the mountains. scary stuff.

stovelid

Not to me. Somebody did try and get my sister to get into a car or a van though.

seamus

No, can't say I ever recall being offered a lift by someone I didn't know.

There were always stories doing the rounds about how there was a child molestor on the prowl and how "someone" had been approached and asked to get into a car "last week".

Despite that, not one child ever disappeared in my locality for the entire time I was in school. Philip Cairns was the last one, before I even started school.

Random abductions are insanely rare in this country. Even Philip Cairns is generally not believed to be a "random" abduction, as the main suspect still lives in the locality and has never been arrested on any other charge or implicated in any other incident.

LaLucy

That reminds me of something terrifying that happened. Me and 2 friends were in a forest in London. We were there a few hours when all of a sudden a naked man appeared in front of us and started masturbating. Terrifying! We were all crying and saying don't kill us! He didn't say a word just kept starring at us while he was doing that. He didn't even have socks or shoes on :-( we were aged about 11-13 and were brought home by the policeome by the police

Gilda Fortune

I was about 8 or 9 and walking home from the shop. head in the clouds. car pulled up and a man said get in i will give u a lift. I thought he was a neighbour and in i got.
when we pulled away i realised this wasant my neighbour , i was so frightened i hardly spoke a word . i had been warned so many times never get in a car with a stranger.
as he was driving he musta realised i was scared and he said, you just dont recognise me do you ?
I whimpered no . and he laughed and said im a friend of your mothers love dont worry, and he dropped me right outsie my door safe and sound.
Innocent man doing a kind thing.told me his name and to say hello to my mother.


when i was 25 i was in Temple Bar, gee eyed. My boyfriend had dumped me and left me stranded and i had mascara running down the cheeks, totally pissed crying and in a state. i was very far from home prob 40 euro taxi fare and i only had bus fare. i was stumbling about crying and a car pulled up, the man offered me a lift. I was so drunk i had no sense and in i got.
I was in bits crying and also dressed quite provocatively i guess in short skirt and heels. it dawned on me i was with a stranger as i started to sober.
anyway he chatted away to me told me i was a lovely girl and that he had a daughter my age. and the thoughts of some guy dumping her and leaving her stranded in a strange place alone made his blood boil. he said he was worried something could happen to me when he saw me.
he drove me home, which was a fair distance. gave me a good pep talk about men and safety. and didnt ask for a thing in return. to this day i think his daughter is a lucky girl

LaLucy

Gilda Fortune wrote: »

I was about 8 or 9 and walking home from the shop. head in the clouds. car pulled up and a man said get in i will give u a lift. I thought he was a neighbour and in i got.
when we pulled away i realised this wasant my neighbour , i was so frightened i hardly spoke a word . i had been warned so many times never get in a car with a stranger.
as he was driving he musta realised i was scared and he said, you just dont recognise me do you ?
I whimpered no . and he laughed and said im a friend of your mothers love dont worry, and he dropped me right outsie my door safe and sound.
Innocent man doing a kind thing.told me his name and to say hello to my mother.


when i was 25 i was in Temple Bar, gee eyed. My boyfriend had dumped me and left me stranded and i had mascara running down the cheeks, totally pissed crying and in a state. i was very far from home prob 40 euro taxi fare and i only had bus fare. i was stumbling about crying and a car pulled up, the man offered me a lift. I was so drunk i had no sense and in i got.
I was in bits crying and also dressed quite provocatively i guess in short skirt and heels. it dawned on me i was with a stranger as i started to sober.
anyway he chatted away to me told me i was a lovely girl and that he had a daughter my age. and the thoughts of some guy dumping her and leaving her stranded in a strange place alone made his blood boil. he said he was worried something could happen to me when he saw me.
he drove me home, which was a fair distance. gave me a good pep talk about men and safety. and didnt ask for a thing in return. to this day i think his daughter is a lucky girl

Please stop getting in strangers cars!.

mattjack

Gilda Fortune wrote: »

I was about 8 or 9 and walking home from the shop. head in the clouds. car pulled up and a man said get in i will give u a lift. I thought he was a neighbour and in i got.
when we pulled away i realised this wasant my neighbour , i was so frightened i hardly spoke a word . i had been warned so many times never get in a car with a stranger.
as he was driving he musta realised i was scared and he said, you just dont recognise me do you ?
I whimpered no . and he laughed and said im a friend of your mothers love dont worry, and he dropped me right outsie my door safe and sound.
Innocent man doing a kind thing.told me his name and to say hello to my mother.


when i was 25 i was in Temple Bar, gee eyed. My boyfriend had dumped me and left me stranded and i had mascara running down the cheeks, totally pissed crying and in a state. i was very far from home prob 40 euro taxi fare and i only had bus fare. i was stumbling about crying and a car pulled up, the man offered me a lift. I was so drunk i had no sense and in i got.
I was in bits crying and also dressed quite provocatively i guess in short skirt and heels. it dawned on me i was with a stranger as i started to sober.
anyway he chatted away to me told me i was a lovely girl and that he had a daughter my age. and the thoughts of some guy dumping her and leaving her stranded in a strange place alone made his blood boil. he said he was worried something could happen to me when he saw me.
he drove me home, which was a fair distance. gave me a good pep talk about men and safety. and didnt ask for a thing in return. to this day i think his daughter is a lucky girl

I do enjoy your stories..

listermint

mattjack wrote: »

I do enjoy your stories..

Stories indeed..... ...

listermint

Stories for every occasion Gilda.







Please dont PM me.

Thanks

mattjack

I got a PM too....told her it it was after hours and no offense intended...and guaranteed no more comments...such is life.

sunflower27

Not that I can recall. Although I do remember being wolf-whistled at by a guy in his 40s when I was about 12. That freaked me out no end at that age. And I looked 12, I wasn't one of those girls that looked older.

tiny_penguin

When i was about 6 or 7, I was playing in front of my house. My dad was about to start cutting the grass and had gone around to the shed. A car pulled up with a man and a women and asked me directions to get somewhere. Obviously being the age that I was I didnt give very good directions. The woman asked again and suggested i get in a go with them to give better directions. At that point I figured sure my dad will give better directions - said id call him as he was only in the shed behind me, turned and called his name and when i turned back they were driving off. This happened in a very quiet houseing estate where im sure lots of kids were playing. Very scary thinking back on it, but at the time I didnt get the big deal that was made of how clever I was not getting into their car.

RedXIV

got offered a lift a good few times as a kid and blindly took them, never had anything bad happen. Every now and again it'd be someone who knew my dad (local copper) and i'd be told to make sure to say hello.

Last time I got offered a lift was when I was walking from portlaois to portarlington, the last few miles a woman stopped and said she had seen me walking an hour earlier and was I alright? gave me a lift with her daughter in the back seat. Since I've told people that story, I find myself in the minority of people ever offered a lift by a woman who didn't know them.

sunflower27

Was getting a taxi to a friend's place one time and the taxi driver said he knew where to go. Turns out he didn't and he took a wrong turn and we ended up in some nearby estate. Taxi driver was getting irate at me :rolleyes: so I suggested he ask someone where the hell we were.

There were a couple of kids playing nearby so we went and asked how to get to a certain address. One of the boys (probably about 10) offered to hop in the taxi and take us there as it was only a few minutes away.

I was horrified. Kids can be so innocent.

4zn76tysfajdxp

sunflower27 wrote: »

Not that I can recall. Although I do remember being wolf-whistled at by a guy in his 40s when I was about 12. That freaked me out no end at that age. And I looked 12, I wasn't one of those girls that looked older.

You weren't a Spanish student at the time, by any chance?

sunflower27

Victor Inexpensive Technique wrote: »

You weren't a Spanish student at the time, by any chance?

A school student. Not Spanish.

G86

It's mad now when I think about it, but when I was a kid I'd always be offered lifts on my way to the local shop and because I lived in a rural area I always assumed it was someone my Aunty knew or something, so even if I didn't know them I never thought twice. I'd kill either of my siblings if they did the same now.

A few years later, I was hitching into town (again, didn't think twice), and the guy started trying to chat me up so I felt pretty uncomfortable. I panicked then when he drove past my stop and told him to stop the car and that I was getting out, I think he genuinely just missed the stop and thought I was a headcase then.... but it stopped me hitching!

secrecy_ie

When I was about 14/15 I was walking down a quiet country road to my friends house. A car drives by and stops beside me, the middle aged man driving the car opens the door, smiles and asks me;
'Are you going to the shop, I can give you a lift?'
I was very suspicious, as I had never seen him before in my life. I just shook my head and said 'no'. He gave me the dirtiest look like I was the biggest b**** in the world, slams the door shut and speeds off down the road.

thefinalstage

secrecy_ie wrote: »

When I was about 14/15 I was walking down a quiet country road to my friends house. A car drives by and stops beside me, the middle aged man driving the car opens the door, smiles and asks me;
'Are you going to the shop, I can give you a lift?'
I was very suspicious, as I had never seen him before in my life. I just shook my head and said 'no'. He gave me the dirtiest look like I was the biggest b**** in the world, slams the door shut and speeds off down the road.

I can understand why he reacted like that if he was just being nice. Lack of manners.

cassid

this thread has made me realise I will have to have a talk to my little lad who is starting school next month for the 1st time:eek:


One of my neighbours was taken by a guy in a car but she managed to open it and escape, so we all the warmed about accepting lifts from an early age. My mother even warmed me about priests, there was one priest who used to wait outside the school and bring kids home and he always had sweets. I used to be really annoyed at my mother because I was not allowed to get into his car for the sweets!

Got followed home twice with my sister in broad day light and had cars go slow beside me a few times and with ole lads winking at me, God was only about 7 or 8.

secrecy_ie

poisonedstream wrote: »

I can understand why he reacted like that if he was just being nice. Lack of manners.

I was scared, didn't mean to be rude. It wasn't the fact that he was offering me a lift, it was the look he gave me when he said it. Creeped me out, I didn't know how to react. I was a teenager, but I looked very young for my age, most people thought I was about eleven or twelve when I was fifteen.

sunflower27

poisonedstream wrote: »

I can understand why he reacted like that if he was just being nice. Lack of manners.

What? She said no, she didn't spit in his face!

secrecy_ie

cassid wrote: »

this thread has made me realise I will have to have a talk to my little lad who is starting school next month for the 1st time:eek:


One of my neighbours was taken by a guy in a car but she managed to open it and escape, so we all the warmed about accepting lifts from an early age. My mother even warmed me about priests, there was one priest who used to wait outside the school and bring kids home and he always had sweets. I used to be really annoyed at my mother because I was not allowed to get into his car for the sweets!

Got followed home twice with my sister in broad day light and had cars go slow beside me a few times and with ole lads winking at me, God was only about 7 or 8.

I remember when me and my folks moved down the country. My Mum's friend and her husband helped us with the move. I was twelve at the time and the car was packed with my parents, their friends, me and stuff we were bringing to the new house. The husband of my mum's friend was sitting beside me, and for the whole journey he stroked my leg. I didn't know what was going on, my parents were in the car, but couldn't see anything, I kept quiet because I was so scared. It wasn't until many years later, when this man's brother was found out to be a paedo priest that I told my parents about this incident, I think I had just pushed it to the back of my mind until then. They were furious with him, of course, but they haven't talked in years anyway.

Seloth

Live in the country so it was quite common but in general it was someone I knew or my parents did(Or literally just a friendly person who lived in the area).

The last time I was offered a lift I think(at kidnappable age) was when I was 13-14 walking up from a Marina near by after a sailing course thingie.I had a big bag with me and was walking up a hill and a car pulled up and the guy shouted across asking if I needed one.I said No thanks as I was literally around the corner and he said no bother and drove off.He had just come from the marina or the restaurant there so there was nothing devious about it.

It was only recently I found out why my parents said not to take sweets of strangers was because they contained drugs like sleeping pills in them :eek:

Around the time of Robert Houlihan before anyone knew what actually happened I was only 13 and I can remember my parents and my friends ones being very nervous!

On a lighter side though I can rember years ago my tekwando instructor warning of getting lifts with strangers and said how in one of this other places (where my cousin was from)one of his students was asked to get into a car by a stranger.I found out a few years later form my cousin the guy was actually bull****ting.

LeeHoffmann

I once got caught in a thunderstorm miles from home with my younger brother and friend. We had been at a family event but the place was quickly deserted once the rain started. I phoned some people to come collect us but could only get through to my friend's Dad. He cam and collected his daughter but left me and my younger brother there. A man in a car offered us a lift home saying he was friend of my Auntie. I refused the lift politely but asked the man to tell my Aunt we were there. It turned out he did know her. She came to collect us but ate the head off me for not getting in the car with him. Mixed messages eh? We've got to be careful to reinforce the safety messages we give kids, just in case.

RichieC

Me and my mate were at the waterworks and a man asked us to help him put a couch in the back of his van... I'm not making this up.

We walked over and began to help but I got a chill and made eyes at my mate to do a runner. we belted over the gate and made off into the distance.

Never found out if he did actually need a hand or if it was a weirdo..

BettePorter

When i was about ten I went out after school one day delivering 'church dues' (how ironic )on my bike. This car pulls up and waves me down, guy pulls down window and asks me do i know where elizabeth murphy lives. Just out of pure coincidence he had stopped right outside 'Murphys' house so i said, 'in there'. He immediately dismissed this and said ' no no thats not her' . He was moving about in the seat and i obviously now know he was having a **** but at the time i just thought he was acting weird lol and i remember consciously bringing my pedal round to a take off position should i need to take flight yet my main concern was not being rude to him. He wasn't making a whole lot of sense and started telling me how he had met her one night blah blah blah and i continued to listen to him then to my horror he said ' you see i have a really big cock and i want to get it up her'..........it horrifies me now that still at that point i was more mortified than scared. he didn't attempt to get me in the car or anything. He left only when i almost apologised saying i had to go (wtf) and i turned the bike and went straight home. I said nothing to my parents out of sheer embarassment i think. When i think of it now and it horrifies my. if such a thing happened to my niece i would hunt the fu5ker down and cut bits off him.

Knight who says Meh

Oh great. Another Church bashing thread:D

Ditch

RichieC wrote: »

Me and my mate were at the waterworks and a man asked us to help him put a couch in the back of his van.

Was his arm in a plaster cast ....? :eek:

secrecy_ie

BettePorter wrote: »

When i was about ten I went out after school one day delivering 'church dues' (how ironic )on my bike. This car pulls up and waves me down, guy pulls down window and asks me do i know where elizabeth murphy lives. Just out of pure coincidence he had stopped right outside 'Murphys' house so i said, 'in there'. He immediately dismissed this and said ' no no thats not her' . He was moving about in the seat and i obviously now know he was having a **** but at the time i just thought he was acting weird lol and i remember consciously bringing my pedal round to a take off position should i need to take flight yet my main concern was not being rude to him. He wasn't making a whole lot of sense and started telling me how he had met her one night blah blah blah and i continued to listen to him then to my horror he said ' you see i have a really big cock and i want to get it up her'..........it horrifies me now that still at that point i was more mortified than scared. he didn't attempt to get me in the car or anything. He left only when i almost apologised saying i had to go (wtf) and i turned the bike and went straight home. I said nothing to my parents out of sheer embarassment i think. When i think of it now and it horrifies my. if such a thing happened to my niece i would hunt the fu5ker down and cut bits off him.

That reminds me of a trip to France when I was sixteen. Me and some classmates were on an exchange trip and the french kids we were staying with were sitting their exams when we arrived, so we decided to go to the cafe beside the school. It was in the morning but a lot of cafes over there serve alcohol aswell and when we went to the counter to order coffees this creepy old man stinking of booze stared at us the whole time. We took our coffees, found a table and only a few minutes later, we noticed the same man, standing outside the cafe. The walls were full glass windows and he was standing in front of a skip of rancid meat from the supermarket next door - w***ing. We got so freaked out we left, but this only prompted him to turn around to us and well...continue....ugh!!!

Knasher

Back when I was 5 I went to the same primary school as my sister, however the school was split administratively by gender and occasionally one side would have the day off while the other didn't. So one day my mother dropped in my sister and me and in and left before realising that I had the day off. Being a bit of an independent child I decided to walk home, which was about 4 miles away.

I got about a quarter of the way home before a neighbour recognised me (although I doubt I recognised him) as I walked past and offer me a lift. And being the innocent type I accepted and he dropped me home safe and sound.

When my mother asked me what the hell was I thinking, my reply was; I figured I'd have walked back by about 2 o'clock and if it came to it I always had my lunchbox so I could stop for a snack. Not a clue that I shouldn't get into strangers cars.

dlofnep

Not a lift story, but one to make you weary of strangers.

About 24 or 25 years ago around the corner from me - a man offered a few young lads if they wanted to go up the field with him to earn some pocket money. All of them said no except one of them. The man ended up murdering the poor young lad who was only 8 at the time.

The fella responsible got out of jail a good few years back I think. Hard to believe someone like that could be back in society.

punchdrunk

when I was about 17 or so I was running late for work,walking to my job in the omniplex in santry when a man in his 40's or early 50's pulled up in a car asking where the omniplex was.
me thinking i was being very clever said I was going there to work and if he wanted I could show him the way there if he gave me a lift (it was about 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning so feck all buses around to catch)

I got in the car and started to chat,small talk stuff
he wasted no time in asking about where I went out in town (in fairness I'd only just started drinking in town so I think I named one of maybe three pubs I'd ever been drinking in)

he started to ask about the George and did I know of it,and how that's where he liked to go I pretended not to know of it
(of course I knew what the George was-who hasn't heard of it!)
the way he said it and the expression on his face when he did was truly vile like a vulture hovering over a fresh corpse,

at that point he locked the doors with the central locking which truly had the hairs on my neck standing up,I was trapped and completely helpless
I started pumping sweat
I stopped talking and tensed myself up
in my head I was planning to start hitting his face as hard as I could if he so much as took his hands off the wheel.

"why me? I'm too old!"
"where is he going to take me"

he never asked directions,he knew exactly where he was going
amazingly after a few minutes he took the right turn and pulled into the cinema car park.I was convinced he wasn't going to...
he parked the car at the opposite end of the almost completely empty car park far away from the entrance and well away from the couple of people around
he turned the engine off and as soon as he did,through a trembling mouth I managed to say
"can I get out now I'm late"

he was absolutely beaming with a smile by this point,I was at his mercy
obviously I was very visibly terrified and he seemed to revel in it.
as soon as he unlocked the door I bolted from the seat and ran all the way to the building door,the car started and he drove off-obviously he wasn't at all interested in going shopping...

I never told anyone except the guys in work,I'd definitely never have told my parents about it cause I figured they would kill me for being so stupid

at the time I wondered why he didn't try it on with me
I could only figure that I must have had a determined look on my face and that he knew I'd be trouble (I was 100% convinced that if I had to I was going to sink my thumbs into his eyeballs if necessary)
either that or he realised that I was slightly older than he at first thought
(I wasn't very tall for my age and was pretty baby faced at the time)
somebody above was definitely watching over me that day

I very quickly forgot that it ever happened,I've never really thought about it since.
but I always regretted not getting that reg plate...