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You might think dogging takes place far away from any civilisation, but just around the corner from a burger van is one of Essex's "busiest" hotspots.

The 0.3 mile stretch of road is just off of the A127 in Brentwood and is known to be a gathering point for those who want to engage in sexual activity in public.

So what really goes on there after dark?

We sent reporter Paige Ingram, along with our photographer, to Brentwood Road on a Friday night and this is what happened.

Before our visit I briefed our photographer on some of the dogging signals and their meanings, so we knew how to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.

Dogging Etiquette In the act of dogging, there are participants who are actively dogging, and others, the watchers, who are observing what is going on. As dogging has become more popular, a certain set of rules; a dogging etiquette, has developed, which continues to evolve. The following are some of the widely recognised dogging signals you should be aware of: Flashing headlights or brake lights – are there any other doggers nearby? Interior light on – we want to be watched. Window half down – oral sex is on offer. Window fully down – touching and fondling is allowed. Door open – full sex is on offer.

We then drove to the site in his brother's BMW. That's when the bizarre night began.

9.35pm - arrival

As we turned into Brentwood Road it is illuminated by a street light near a fast food van called 'Cosmos', where people can re-fuel, should they need a break from the action.

But the road soon plummets into darkness, a perfect environment for doggers.

As we slowly drove to the end of the road, we spotted two cars and one van.

One of the cars, a silver Volvo estate car, had a driver and a passenger, both males, with the window fully down.

I think back to the rule: "Window fully down – touching and fondling is allowed?"

While the van and other car both had just one male driver and were showing no signs of dogging etiquette.

We drove to the end of the road before turning around and parking up.

9.48pm - we found lube

We sat with our engine off and lights off, just observing for a few minutes. A Ford Fiesta and a couple of other vehicles drove past in the direction of the pub but didn't return.

We then wandered down the road looking in the undergrowth for any items that may have been used in the practice of dogging.

During my last visit I found an empty packet of Sildenafil, also known as Viagra, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction.

This time we found no Viagra, but we did find a dumped mattress and bed frame dumped at the side of the road. I guess a mattress would be a lot more comfortable than a stinging nettle ridden field?

We then followed a trail of used tissues left down a dirt track into an overgrown patch of field, where we found more tissue, two opened condom wrappers and sweet cherry flavoured lube.

There was also a lot of general litter; cans of beer, McDonald's packaging, polystyrene take away trays and one possible dogger clearly liked their Cadbury's chocolate, as we found six Twirl chocolate bar wrappers on the floor.

10.10pm - a van pulls up

Startled by headlights we aborted our search of the undergrowth and returned to the safety of the car.

Over the next 20 minutes or so we ducked and dived out of the path of the headlights of oncoming doggers.

Then a Ford Transit van parked up about five meters behind us.

He had his headlights on and this indicated to us that he could have been a dogger.

He sat in his van for around five minutes before turning his lights off.

10.24pm - a man got out his van

Much to our surprise, the driver got out of his vehicle.

Me and our photographer looked at one another, unsure what was about to happen, and I suggested we locked ourselves in for safety.

A man we estimated to be in his 40s wearing a fleece and baggy jeans walked slowly by the driver side of or car.

He stopped around ten meters in front of us and starred at us for a good 30 seconds.

He then began to walk back to his vehicle, where he perched himself on the bonnet for few minutes.

There was no matter of urgency about his walk, it was more of a wander. We felt a little uneasy.

10.30pm - the interior light disaster

Felling nervous about the man sitting on his bonnet behind us being we decided to move further up the road towards the fast food van, where we thought there may be more vehicles.

But as the engine started, disaster struck; our interior lights came on. Remember the rule: "Interior light on – we want to be watched."

For around seven seconds, we couldn't figure out how to turn them off.

Worried that the man in the van behind might think we wanted to be watched, we quickly scarpered.

10.37pm - a man emerged from the bushes

Near the fast food van there were two vans. There was a transit and a caddy van, but a red Ford Fiesta caught our eye.

There appeared to be no passengers in the vehicle.

Then, all of a sudden, a man, the driver of the Fiesta emerged from the bushes and got back in his car.

The fact he was alone seemed strange to us, so we went to investigate.

We pulled into the break in the bushes where he had emerged from to find an open area with a dirt track beyond a green locked gate.

Using the area, we turned around and made our way back down the road towards the pub

10.45pm - peak dogging time

This was by far the busiest time. We parked up in front of the van and continued our observations.

A number of cars and vans drove past us and parked up with their lights on including; a grey Vauxhall Corsa, a Volkswagen 4x4, a Caddy, a Range Rover a Porsche Cayenne and a C-Class Mercedes- Benz.

At 10.51pm our photographer said: "It's definitely hotting up now."

While we were focusing on the cars ahead, we saw the same man in the van behind us, once again.

He got out of his vehicle and went for a wander by our car, this time while smoking.

He did exactly the same as what he did last time, wandered slowly until he got to about ten meters in front of us turned around and starred at us.

This time however, instead of walking past our drivers door to his van he decided to squeeze in between my passenger door and the overgrown hedgerow, which made me feel very uncomfortable. So again, we moved further up the road away from him.

11pm - home time

At 11 o'clock we decided to call it a day.

In total we counted 14 suspected dogging vehicles at the site in just under two hours.

It was very much a learning curve for the two of us, and a slightly different way to spend our Friday night.

Here's a full list of the county's top dogging hotspots:

Barkingside- Fairlop Water.

Basildon- Langdon Hills Country Park.

Chigwell- A small car-park opposite the Camelot Pub.

Clacton- Holland Haven Country Park.

Colchester- On the A120 between Colchester and Braintree.

Danbury Ford- On the road out of Boreham Village towards Danbury.

Hainault Forest and Country Park- In two car parks.

Hutton- Church Road, Hutton off Hanging Hill Lane and Hall Green Lane.

Leigh-on-Sea- In the bushes off the bridleway on the edge of Belfairs Park Golf Course.

Brentwood- Halfway House on A127 between Romford and Southend.

Witham- In the bushes and trees by the disused toilet on the Chelmsford end of Witham.

Bradwell- By the church.

Brentwood- Childerditch car park off Childerditch lane, near Thornton Park.

Cranham- In the woods near mainline railway line.

Halstead- Broaks Wood.

Bulphan- Old Brentwood Road.

Upminister- Cely Wood.

Earles Colne- Chalkney Woods.

Tilbury- Coach House, Fort East

Coggeshall- A120 Lay by.

Colchester- Abberton reservoir.

Epping Forest- First parking area heading towards Theydon bois.

Tollshunt Darcy- Five lakes.

Upminster- Folkes Lane.

Grays Davy Down- Opposite the traveller site, and by Sainsbury's.

Harlow- head out of Harlow by Harlow station on the A414 Hertford bound about half mile on your left there's a small parking place by the river nice and quiet day or nigh times. Also, the car park outside the Range, from midnight onwards.

Hawkwell- Clements Hall roundabout.

Henny- As head to Sudbury turn left after Henny Swan Pub .1/4 mile secluded beet patches.

Howe Green- On the roundabout coming out of Chelmsford going to the A130 take the Howe green exit (one before A130) then immediately left into small turning.

Loughton- Loughton and Epping new road.

Magnolia Park- Behind the park.

Manningtree- On the small beach.

Rettendon - On the old A130 road there are two stopping areas use the larger one park your car walk in to the field a little bit down the road.

Stansted Mountfitchet- Mounthfitchet Castle.

Stansted- A120 heading to Dunmow.

Paglesham- Near the boatyard.

Braintree - Petches Bridge near Finchingfield.

Upminster- Off St Marys lane just after the Thatched House Pub.

South Woodham Ferrers- Rugby club car park.

Southend- Temple farm industrial estate.

Upminster- Sunnings lane off Stubbers lane.

Laindon- Victoria park.

Waltham abbey- Picnic area part of lea valley nature reserve.

Walton on the Naze- The old customs tower car park on the naze at Walton.

Wansted- Wansted park behind the Wansted flats.

Wickford- Fields near station.

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