Evri apologises to residents for courier 'chaos'

A courier company has apologised to residents who have had to "turn detective" in order to track down their missing parcels.

For weeks, people in South Cambridgeshire have had packages left at random addresses and in different villages.

One couple is still missing items for their wedding this weekend, despite them having received many parcels addressed to other people.

Evri says it has a "zero tolerance policy for poor behaviour" and has dismissed a driver.

Toby Bennett says his fiancé, Caroline Law, is "pretty furious" with Evri.

The couple from Harston in South Cambridgeshire are getting married in a few days. Ms Law had ordered several items for the wedding from high street retailers, but many are missing.

"The problem is that the parcels are marked as 'delivered' in the system," said Mr Bennett, who is a pilot. "It means we can't even get a refund from the retailers and try to buy the things again because, as far as they're concerned, we already have them.

"At the same time we've had parcels for other people, which we've had to try to deliver ourselves. We've seen the driver dropping them off on our CCTV."

Just down the street from Mr Bennett, Tess Jones is also angry with the courier.

"I had a message to say my parcel had been delivered to my neighbour, 'HIM'. This made no sense, and I'd also been in all day," said Mrs Jones.

"The driver had sent a picture of the parcel on a doorstep, and I had to turn to friends and social media to try to identify where it was. It took hours."

When Mrs Jones arrived at the house, there were "five packages on the doorstep. None of them were for the owners of the house and two were for someone in a different village", she said.

"The homeowners were in America with hundreds of pounds worth of goods lying by their door. I've had two parcels misdelivered now."

Residents say the problem began after their former Evri delivery driver, Alison Kingsley, stepped down to start her own cleaning business.

"It was heart-wrenching to walk away," Mrs Kingsley said. "Over 14 years I saw babies grow up, I helped vulnerable customers with their shopping and I looked after them, so leaving was very hard."

Ms Kingsley was responsible for delivering Evri parcels to seven villages in South Cambridgeshire, and now she's helping residents find their missing parcels.

"It might sound sad," said Mrs Kingsley, "but I know every single doorstep in those villages, so everyday people are sending me pictures of their parcel and asking me which house it has been left at."

The former courier thinks the problem is caused when "contract drivers are brought in who don't know the patch". She added: "They get paid for parcels they deliver, so if they can't find the addresses, some will just put loads of packages on a doorstep and mark them down as 'delivered' without caring where they are."

Evri said in a statement: "Our ambition is that every customer’s experience with Evri is a positive one, and we are very sorry that some residents in Harston and Newton have faced issues with their deliveries.

"We are committed to instilling a culture where every parcel matters and encourage those who work with us to treat every parcel like they would for themselves or a family member.

"We have conducted a thorough internal investigation, and in line with our strict zero tolerance policy for poor behaviour, the driver will no longer be delivering on behalf of Evri.

"We are sorry to any customers who have been impacted by this, and any customers who have not received their delivery should contact the retailer or seller for support."