Family Left Traumatised After Police Force Entry Into Wrong Hartlepool Home..
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- 3 min read
Family Says Police Forced Entry Into Wrong Hartlepool Home Before Admitting “Wrong Address”....
27th May 2026
A Hartlepool family has spoken of their distress after claiming Cleveland Police forced entry into their home, changed the locks, and left the property unsecured — only for officers to later admit they had attended the wrong address.
In a social media post shared after the incident, the Hartlepool resident said they returned home from visiting family to find a Cleveland Police notice stuck to their front door stating that officers had gained entry. The incident is said to have happened at around 5.50pm, shortly before the family’s one-year-old child was due to go to bed.
According to the resident, they contacted police using the reference number left at the property and were told officers had forced entry into the home. They said they were then required to attend Hartlepool Police Station to collect a new set of keys after the locks had been changed.
However, the family claim they were then told by police that officers had in fact 'gone to the wrong address entirely'....
The resident wrote that police were apparently meant to attend a “complete different street” in a different part of town, but instead forced entry into their home despite the address being displayed next to the front door.
They said the incident had left the family feeling humiliated in front of neighbours, particularly as they had only moved into the property around six weeks ago.
The resident said:
“We are a quiet family and don’t do anything wrong. The police have made us look like idiots in the street for the mistake they have made.”
The family claim the damage to the property was substantial, with the front door left unable to close properly and the frame split. They also said the alarm system may now need replacing as a result of the damage caused.
More concerningly, the resident said their dog was left visibly distressed after the incident, describing the animal as “cowering” and “petrified”.
The family say they contacted Cleveland Police again at around 6.28pm to ask officers to return and secure the property, stressing that they had a young child in the house and could not settle for the night while the door remained damaged and unsafe.
They claim that after waiting a further hour and a half, nobody had arrived to fix the problem.
The incident is said to raise serious questions about the checks being carried out before forced entry is authorised, particularly where children, pets and innocent residents may be affected by mistakes.
Forced entry by police is one of the most serious actions officers can take against a private home, usually requiring a Magistrates Warrant before entry is granted. While there are lawful circumstances where such powers may be used, the consequences of attending the wrong address can be devastating for innocent families & is said to be one of a number of incidents from the police force with no public confidence where the wrong property has been damaged, leading to compensation having to be paid to victims of the Criminal Damage.
No Official Data, but it happens regularly !
Previous concerns have been raised about whether Cleveland Police keeps a central record of incidents in which officers force entry into the wrong property. It is understood that the force does not officially record such figures as a specific category.
The latest allegation also appears to echo a similar incident reported in 2015, when Cleveland Police were accused of a botched operation after officers allegedly broke down the front door of an innocent man’s home during an early morning raid, before leaving behind what was described as an apology note.
At the time, it's claimed to have been the second occasion on which 'confused' officers had wrongly linked the same family to a serious assault investigation in the North East. That raid was reportedly carried out in connection with an investigation involving Edinburgh police.
In response to that incident, Cleveland Police were reported to have issued a brief statement, saying:
“The officers acted upon the information that was available to them at the time.”
The comparison raises further questions about what safeguards are in place before officers force entry into a private home, how addresses are checked, and whether mistakes of this nature are being properly recorded, reviewed and more importantly......learned from, with the resident saying they wanted to “clear the air” and make it clear that they and their family had done nothing wrong.
