A startling incident shook France over the first weekend of July, when a 62-year-old man called the police in a panic: he had accidentally left his wife at a motorway rest stop – and had no idea where.
The event unfolded during the night of July 4th to 5th, coinciding with the first major weekend of the summer vacation season, when highways are typically packed with families on the move. At around 8:30 a.m., the Landes police received what they described as an unusually confusing phone call, according to France3.
“At around 8:30 a.m., we received this rather confusing call. The man couldn’t remember where or when he had stopped,” said officers from the Landes road safety unit (EDSR).
The man had been traveling with his daughter, who was asleep during the journey and remained unaware of what had happened. He vaguely recalled stopping somewhere near Orléans. Authorities quickly contacted regional units and checked all possible rest areas in the vicinity—but there was no sign of the woman.
In an attempt to locate her, the police reviewed footage from tollbooth cameras to determine the vehicle’s passage time and identify the moment she may have gone missing. However, discrepancies began to emerge. For instance, the man claimed his daughter was seated in the back, but video evidence showed her in the front seat.
“There were a lot of inconsistencies,” officers noted. “We saw the daughter sitting in the front, which didn’t match the information we were given.”
The Wife Was Found 300 Kilometers Away After Waiting for Hours
The situation was further complicated by the fact that the family had made multiple stops throughout the night, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact location where the woman had been left behind. Ultimately, the police traced the 62-year-old woman using mobile phone signal data, locating her in the department of Deux-Sèvres—approximately 300 kilometers from where the husband had reported her missing.
“We got in touch with our colleagues in the area, who found the woman. She had already contacted them earlier to report that her husband had forgotten her,” the Landes police explained.
The woman had been waiting at a motorway rest area in Pamproux since 4 a.m. Upon confirmation, officers instructed the husband to turn around and retrieve his wife. Meanwhile, the Deux-Sèvres police launched an investigation to clarify the circumstances surrounding the incident.
As authorities stated: “It was indeed a case of forgetfulness.”