Missing time experience - looking for others with similar stories

This is difficult to talk about openly so I'm doing it anonymously. About four months ago I had an experience that I can't rationally explain and it's been bothering me ever since.

I was driving home from work around 9:30pm on the A1(M) near Gateshead. Clear night, dry roads, not even tired. I remember passing the Newcastle exit clearly. Next thing I know I'm waking up in my car, parked in a service station about forty miles further north, and it's 1:15am.

I lost three hours and forty-five minutes with absolutely no memory of it. The car was parked neatly between the lines, engine off, doors locked from the inside. My fuel gauge showed the same amount as when I left work - I hadn't driven those forty miles, I was instantly there. Or the time was filled in and I don't remember it.

No physical injuries, no marks on my body, but I had this strange metallic taste in my mouth for hours afterward. My phone had no record of the time gap - no calls, nothing. When I checked my fuel more carefully the next day, it was about two miles worth less than on the night, which makes no sense.

I've been having odd dreams since - nothing graphic, just images of bright light and the sense of being examined. I'm not claiming alien abduction because I have no actual memory of it, but the missing time is real and unexplained. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Missing time is genuinely fascinating and actually documented in multiple abduction cases. The fact that you ended up forty miles north with no fuel consumption and no memory is compelling. Have you considered hypnotherapy to recover the lost memories? Some therapists specialise in this, though results are obviously subjective.

No physical injuries, no marks on my body, but I had this strange metallic taste in my mouth

The metallic taste appears in quite a few abduction accounts. Also the loss of time, the dreams afterward, the sense of missing narrative. I'm not saying aliens, but the pattern matches known abduction experiences. Have you noticed anything else unusual since? Electronics acting strange, unusual urges or compulsions?

Could be temporal lobe epilepsy causing fugue state, or dissociation. Those can cause missing time and false memories of experiences that didn't happen. Not dismissing your account, but worth discussing with a neurologist before assuming extraterrestrial explanation. Medical causes should be ruled out first.

The fuel discrepancy is interesting. Two miles worth could theoretically be the service station being two miles off the main route, or you misremembered the initial reading. But combined with the other elements it's genuinely odd. Document everything from now on - times, any recurring dreams, physical sensations, anything unusual. Patterns will emerge.

I had something similar happen on the Scottish Highlands in 2015. Lost about two hours, found myself fifteen miles from where I remembered being. Turns out I'd had a mini-stroke that caused temporary amnesia. Not saying that's your situation, but neurological explanations exist before paranormal ones.

Get checked by a doctor for sure, but also explore the abduction angle properly. Look into MUFON UK's abduction research. They have experienced investigators who can help without judgment. The missing time element is significant - that's one of the core abduction experiences.