Gifts ‘were stolen by delivery driver and sold at garage sale’, angry customer claims

Families have slammed delivery company Evri for ‘ruining Christmas’ after parcels went missing, were allegedly stolen and apparently sold at a garage sale.

Households are receiving messages from Evri that gifts they ordered more than three weeks ago are delayed or even lost.

It comes amid postal chaos after two days of Royal Mail strikes by more than 100,000 postal workers on a payline. As a result, delivery companies were forced to step in.

Consumers and small business owners said Evri’s backlog is putting immense pressure on finances and called for it to be shut down.

One business owner said: ‘Honestly they shouldn’t be allowed to operate.

A mum has claimed her Evri parcel was found at a car boot sale after a delivery driver’s wife took parcels for sale (pictured)

A mother has claimed her Evri parcel was found more than 60 miles from her home in Great Yarmouth after a delivery driver’s wife took a van of parcels to sell at a car boot sale.

The 38-year-old mother of two ordered clothes which were released on November 13. Two weeks later, a stranger messaged her on Facebook with a photo of her parcel on a pile of others at the sale in Mildenhall, Suffolk.

She said: “I thought it might be the driver so my husband phoned him and he said he was at a car boot sale in Suffolk and my parcel, still in its wrapper with my name on it and my address, is being sold.”

Evri, formerly Hermès, changed its name this year after a series of scandals, such as depot workers seen throwing away parcels.

Evri was called Hermès but changed its name earlier this year after suffering several scandals

Darren Hilton, 51, who runs a fishery in Essex, says he has up to 12 missing parcels with Evri, worth around £800. “It just ruined our Christmas,” he said. ‘Every order shipped by Evri, I don’t know where it is. Where are these packages going? Do they have a deposit for lost packages?

On December 9, Dr. Richard Frenneaux’s doorbell camera captured an Evri driver stealing his package containing a humidifier seconds after dropping it off. He reported the incident to the police.

Evri confirmed the driver had been sacked, saying: “We take fraud extremely seriously.”

He said the incident of the car shoe sale was under investigation, adding: “We are currently delivering over three million packages a day.” However, like others in the sector, we are experiencing service delays due to record Christmas volumes, Royal Mail strikes, staff shortages and extreme weather.