A Day in the Life of a Private Investigator in the UK.

When most people imagine the life of a Private Investigator, they often think of a world filled with smoking guns, high-speed chases, and shadowy figures lurking in alleys. However, the day-to-day reality of a Private investigators duties in the UK is much more nuanced and complex. From covert surveillance to deep diving into digital trails, taking calls and replying to emails.

Every day is different and varied and to give you an idea, here is a glimpse into a typical surveillance day for a Private Investigator.

Firstly, What Exactly Is A Surveillance Day?

A surveillance day is a period of time throughout the day where we have received an instruction to conduct surveillance for a client. Our client base is quite varied, from private clients to legal and commercial too.

Our client base is made up of private clients from just about every walk of life and then solicitors, landlords, HR departments, CEO’s, Company directors and Insurance companies, to name a few.

This blog is specifically orientated around an investigation that we recently conducted for a corporate client. I cannot disclose names and name places, for obvious reasons, but I will most certainly try to give you a good idea of what it entailed throughout day one of the investigation, and the evening prior. Hopefully, by doing so, it will give you an idea of what a day as a Private Investigator in the UK is really like.

A quick disclaimer before I start...

Blog writing is not my forte, but something I feel is a must in this day and age. I hope by writing and sharing blogs it not only demonstrates a little bit of knowledge and answers all the common questions, but creates some sort of trust and transparency within an industry that quite frankly lacks it. No Chat GPT shall be used throughout the following article!

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Anyway, here goes…

I had already gone through all the job details and specifics with the operative who was going to be working with me several days prior, and arranged to meet him at the hotel we were staying in for the week at 19:00 on the Sunday evening before we were due to start the investigation. The investigation was booked in for five consecutive days, from Monday through until end of play on the Friday.

My operative had a good idea of what we were doing, where we were doing it and what the client’s objective, and requirements were. I had also provided him with a job brief to go through a few days before.

Our subject (the individual we were putting under surveillance) however lived in a densely populated and reasonably affluent area, with very limited roadside parking available. We therefore needed to conduct a drive or walk by of the area to better understand the lay of the land and where we would be plotting up the following day.

It is hugely unprofessional to turn up on a job without doing so and therefore having little to no idea of the lay of the land and local demographic where you are going to be conducting surveillance throughout the coming days. Google maps are great, but often areas can change and look totally different to what you have seen online. Google maps does not always give a true and recent reflection of the area to be surveilled. Nothing quite beats the naked eye, in real time.

The start of an investigation...

Turning up to an investigation early in the morning and having to drive up and down a street to work out where you can park can often raise suspicions before you have even started. The general idea is that when we arrive on the location first thing in the morning, we pull straight into our OP. otherwise known as observation post, knock the engine off and dive straight into the back of our vehicles. This whole process should only take a few seconds. Of course, there are times when you pull into position to start a job and suddenly someone is outside having a cigarette, walking their dog or coming back from a night shift, or out in the garden (depending what time you start).

Sometimes we cannot dive in the back of our vehicles right away, and then it becomes a bit of a game of cat and mouse while we wait for the opportunity to do so. You also don’t want a local resident three doors down, who you aren’t aware of, to notice you diving in the back of your vehicle. Straightaway that will raise suspicion and before you know it you’ll have half the estate around your vehicle wanting to know what’s going on. I have never had this happen, but I have heard some horror stories!

It is hugely important for us, that when we are moving into position at the start of any investigation we are also scanning the surrounding area too. You just never know who is about. These first few minutes of a surveillance investigation are often the most important and tricky moments. We must get in to position quickly, but discreetly while minimising any risk and exposure.

By conducting a drive or walk by the evening before we are simply able to better understand the area and get a feel for the place prior to going live with surveillance the following day. Not all investigations allow us this luxury, but this one investigation did. It may be that the surveillance has only been booked for eight hours, starting in the mid-afternoon. In that case I would then arrive an hour or so before and carry out the above.

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Anyway, myself and my operative took a drive down to the area where surveillance was going to be conducted the following day. We went in one vehicle. We took a drive through the area and were quickly able to establish a couple of areas that were suitable for us to “plot up” from the following morning. The only issues were that there were several work vans on the roadside that could potentially block a direct line sight on the address we needed to observe. We took an educated guess at those vans leaving early and therefore allowing us to take those spaces. It was important we took these spaces as they were not overlooked by any properties on the nearside and were a safe distance away from the subject’s home address.

We also had a plan B if the vans were still there in the morning, although plan B carried a little bit more risk and exposure. So, we finalised our plan of attack, headed back to the hotel, and retired for the night.

The investigation was due to start at 6am the following morning and therefore myself and my operative decided we would meet in the hotel car park at 5:30am.

Going live with the investigation...

The following morning, we both met in the car park. We were too early for breakfast which is always a tad disappointing. I'm a sucker for a Premier Inn "Full English".  We prepped our vehicles (cleaned the windows, and a few other bits and bobs) and made our way to the address where the investigation was to be conducted. It was only a short drive away.

As we drove in to the housing estate, I was pleased to see there was now only one van parked on the roadside, and I was able to slot straight in to position in front of it, allowing me a direct line of sight on the home address of our subject. As I pulled into position, I had a high garden fence to my left, and large detached properties to my right. The properties on my right, were all on the opposite side of the road and set back quite a bit, and despite some having CCTV I was well out of sight and felt comfortable and safe from any sort of exposure and compromise. They had hedgerows and foliage at the front of their gardens too, allowing me a little bit of cover from any direct exposure.

I quickly scanned the properties for any third-party persons coming out their front doors, or peering from behind their curtains, and was happy that nobody was about or paying any attention and dived straight into the back of my vehicle. I gave my other operative the all clear and took an opening shot of the address, we were now live! By all accounts it was a great start.

We decided I would remain on the “trigger” throughout the day. Meaning I would stay in position with eyes on the address, and as soon as there was any movement away from the home address of our subject, I would give my operative the “standby” and he would then take the follow from a safe and short distance away, I would then join the follow a few seconds behind. We also needed to identify individuals visiting the address, so it was important that we always had a clear and direct line of sight on the address.

Several hours passed by and the street became quite busy with lots of activity, but our subject did not appear until 10:30am. He exited in his very obvious vehicle and we took the follow a short distance to a location where we were able to observe a brief meeting within a car park from distance. Our subject then returned home.

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What did the client require? What were the main objectives?

There were several key requirements from our client. The first was to identify who our subject was meeting and engaging with throughout each day, and to try and establish the context of those meetings. Secondly, to obtain evidence of how our subject was purchasing things, and lastly to obtain photographic evidence of anyone visiting the home address. It was a typical Corporate Investigation.

Just after 12:30pm our subject exited his home address again. We took the follow away from the city centre and to a country pub, approximately 45 minutes away. The follow became a little tricky as we followed out into the rural countryside. At several points throughout the follow there was only our subject and us on the road, with lots of T-junction’s and slow and windy roads. It become a game of cat and mouse.

It is always important that we stay near enough to our subject so as that we do not lose sight or get stuck behind a slow-moving tractor or held at traffic lights with the subject pushing through, but not close enough so that every time the subject looks in his mirrors, he sees us. There are certain tactics that we use, and thankfully by doing so we were able to stay with him and unnoticed until he arrived totally unaware at the relatively secluded pub.

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Our subject entered the pub by himself and was dressed reasonably well (shirt and trousers). At this point it was clear that he was most likely going to be meeting someone, as our client had suspected. Several minutes passed by and by now both myself and my operative had made our way into the pub also and sat on a table within ear shot of our subject. As expected, two males arrived within fifteen minutes of each other, and they sat around the table with our subject. Food and drinks were ordered and they discussed “all things business” between them. If you didn't know any different you would assume they were just three middle class, business types, having a working lunch...

The pub was quite busy and frustratingly there were brief moments where it was not clear what was being discussed. There was lot’s of background noise from other patrons and the staff within the pub. This is quite normal within a public house type setting. I noticed a fruit machine was situated right next to their table, so decided to have a little play on the machine. By doing so we were able to get up close to our subject and his associates without them batting an eye lid, until we hit the jackpot and cashed out £140 in pound coins. That didn’t go unnoticed though and if I am being brutally honest brought us a little bit of unwanted attention.

It turned out to be a win, win situation though.  We had managed to get right on top of our subject for a good twenty minutes or so, obtain audio of the meeting and make a few extra quid while doing so. I am not a gambling man, but this one particular gamble was worth it, in more ways than one.

I then left the pub and returned to my vehicle outside on the car park. We were keen to identify the vehicles that the unknown males had arrived in too. My operative remained in the pub and gave me the “standby” when they were about to leave. There were two very high-end vehicles parked outside, with one displaying a very obvious private plate referencing the unknown male's name. It was obvious that they belonged to the two male associates, and low and behold they did! Our clients suspicions had now been confirmed. Often it can take several days to obtain anything tangible. To get this piece of evidence on day one was a great start to the investigation.

By remaining inside the pub my operative was also able to confirm how the meal and drinks were being paid for. As mentioned, one of the objectives was to identify how the subject was making purchases.

It was now just after 3pm, and our subject made his way back in the general direction of his home address. A short stop was made at a petrol station on route, before returning to the home address at just after 4pm. We returned into our OP’s and there were no further sightings of him throughout the next couple of hours. We then stood down for the day at 6pm as planned.

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My operative and I returned to the hotel for the evening. We decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back up to our rooms. My operative handed over his SD cards that he had been using to film on throughout the day and his day was now done.

I however, now had to download all the footage we had obtained throughout the entire day, and let me tell you, there was quite a lot. My day was far from over. If you are a Private Investigator you will understand exactly where I am coming from regarding what happens next.

I now had to time and date stamp the video footage, then merge it in to one long video, then pull photographs from it. I then had to produce a legally binding report with all the images, that could be used as evidence at a later date. This is always done at the end of each day when conducting surveillance and is often a timely process. If memory serves me right, I think there was about sixty pages of images for day one, with two images on each page and a detailed description of each what's happening in each image.

Fast forward three and a half hours and the surveillance report for day one was now finally complete. I had taken several phone calls while doing so, while dealing with other ongoing clients and email enquiries too. All this after twelve hours surveillance and being up since the crack of dawn. Surveillance days can be long, intense and tiring.

This is all part of every surveillance investigation though and the fixed hourly rate that is agreed and charged. We don’t charge any silly extras for this. Any company that is offering their surveillance services for absolute peanuts, be aware of. They are more than likely going to provide you with nothing but grainy and distorted footage taken from a mobile phone, if anything at all. You certainly won’t be getting a legally binding and professional report that will be admissible in court and may take many hours to produce!

It really bugs me when I talk to clients who try to haggle me down to nothing after explaining exactly what it entails, or because they have just spoken to another company who has offered a full investigation for peanuts. Said companies often have zero online presence outside of their glossy website that you will find via a paid Google Ad, be very, very careful! Ring around, and please don't go with the first company who have given a sales pitch worthy of an Oscar!

Anyway, there are many potential client's however who appreciate the time, effort and professionalism that goes into any investigation. Surveillance is a fine art and a skill that requires time, effort, patience, hard work and professionalism, and many understand that.

So, day one was now complete. It was now midnight, and I was ready for bed. I set the alarm for 5am the following day where we would repeat the entire process again, until the end of play Friday evening.

As you are probably aware by now, the reality of Private investigations are quite different to how it is often portrayed on the television, via movies and TV programs. I haven't mentioned toilet breaks, while on plot, or trying to stay cool and comfortable while on plot, or eating one's lunch while trying to remain completely covert and undetected by passers by.

There is little glamour with the job. In-fact quite the opposite. It is however often very interesting and rewarding. When client's lives or livelihoods (or both) are on the line, and they have exhausted all other avenues, there is no better feeling than being able to provide them with irrefutable evidence and clarification that they so desperately need.

Welcome to the REAL and not so glamourous world of Private Investigations!

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