Personal Safety
Someone is following me
On foot, in a cab or auto, or in your own car — now.
Do not go home.
Going home tells whoever is following you where you live, and it takes you somewhere with fewer people rather than more. Everything below is about getting to other people.
What to do
- 1Get somewhere with people and lightsA petrol pump, a hospital reception, a hotel lobby, a police station, a shop that is still open. Staff in all of these are used to this and will let you wait.
- 2Call 112 and stay on the lineSay where you are, what you can see, and that you are being followed. Keep the line open while you move — the operator can direct police to you and can hear what happens.
- 3Cross the road, twiceOn foot, crossing and re-crossing confirms whether you are actually being followed without confronting anybody. Two crossings in the same direction is not coincidence.
- 4In a vehicle, do not stop and do not pull overDrive to a police station or a busy place. Sound the horn on approach. If the car behind flashes or gestures at you to stop, that is not a reason to stop.
- 5Tell someone where you are, liveRing a person rather than texting, and keep talking. Someone who knows where you are and can hear you is worth more than a message that may not be read.
Do not
- Do not confront them or photograph them at close range.
- Do not go into an empty stairwell, a parking basement, or a lift with them.
- Do not rely on the phone alone — get to people as well.
Somewhere to go
Find Help ranks the nearest police stations by distance and whether they are open, and says why the first one is first. It needs your location — a city-level guess is no use when the difference is ninety minutes.
Write this down while it is fresh
A note made the same day is treated very differently from one written months later. Keep it yourself — we do not store any of this.
- What they were wearing, and anything that would not change tomorrow.
- The vehicle number, or as much of it as you saw.
- Where it started, where it ended, and roughly how long.