Part of the evening / night patrolling by the @eastern_moors_partnership rangers is a check of gates and car parks. There’s well over 50 years of experience sat in that Land Rover and, to steal the Army-ism, we notice the absence of the normal and the presence of the abnormal. In extreme weather like this evening the gate checks are to ensure that they’re closed so that livestock are where they should be. The car park checks in these conditions are for welfare reasons – in deeply hostile weather we get twitchy when cars are parked in remote places. Occasionally, after our own thorough checks, we’ll dial 101 and ask that the police undertake a door knock and welfare check. It isn’t against the law to leave your vehicle unattended for several days in a remote car park – but it is unusual (especially if you live 2 miles away and haven’t collected your car for 6 days !!). We are also very aware of the other reasons why cars get left in remote car parks – which is why we check (and twitch).