Evri faces Christmas supply backlash as driver is caught ‘stealing’ and 1000’s complain their presents haven’t arrived

Evri has faced fresh backlash over ‘stolen’ presents in the run-up to Christmas – with the latest incident seeing a delivery driver caught ‘running off’ with a package in broad daylight.

Thousands of customers have complained their gifts have not arrived in time for the big day after one worker at the company sacked over a year-long string of offences.

Striking new videos shared with the Daily Mail last week also showed criminals from other companies ambushing vehicles while deliveries were still in progress to homes or shops – before speeding off.

The most recent alleged crime captured the moment a driver appeared to take a parcel from a customer’s doorstep – making off with the parcel under her coat.

Toni Fryer, 47, said she would ‘never use Evri again’ after the parcel disappeared from her home in Timsbury, Hampshire on the morning of December 15.

It follows a spate of complaints from other buyers in the run up to Christmas who have reported stolen goods ranging from kettles to heaters, amid Britain’s £650million-a-year parcel theft epidemic.

In CCTV footage filmed last week, the driver is seen dropping off two packages on the porch of Ms Fryer’s home.

But she then appears to exchange this for one that is already outside, running off with it beneath her navy blue jacket.

Ms Fryer, who was not at home for the deliveries, said she had contacted Evri about the missing parcel – but to no avail.

She said: ‘I asked my partner to bring the three parcels into the house, but he insisted there were only two left on the porch.

‘I pulled up the doorbell footage and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.The most annoying thing is that you can’t contact them for love nor money. Evri have taken no responsibility and their customer service is shocking.

‘I just wish the situation was taken more seriously. I will never use Evri again.’

Evri insisted the company’s priority is to ‘handle every parcel with care’.

A spokesman added: ‘We take claims such as these very seriously.

‘We are investigating this as a priority and our customer service team is reaching out to the customer to offer their support.’

Hampshire Constabulary said: ‘We received a report that between 10.10am and 11.05am on Dec 15, the passenger in a delivery van stole a parcel from the doorstep of an address in The Millburns, Timsbury.’

The incident comes amid reports today of a large number of parcels going undelivered in Salisbury.

Over the last few months, Evri packages have disappeared or been sent to the wrong addresses.

Tish Burbridge, a pensioner in the Wiltshire city, told the Salisbury Journal the occurrence was ‘extraordinarily annoying’.

She claimed that in the last eight months she had ‘not received six or seven parcels’.

‘It’s extraordinarily annoying and also, you know, I’m now on a pension and money is tight, and I can’t afford to lose money like that. It’s just, it’s just not practicable. So, it has certainly made me rethink who I buy from in terms of who they use as couriers,’ Ms Burbridge added.

Laura Clark, another Salisbury resident, who runs two Facebook groups for people who have lost parcels, said parcels thefts in the city were ‘happening a lot’.

In response, Evri said it is ‘committed to making every delivery experience a good one’.

The company added: ‘A third-party contractor was supporting with deliveries in the area, but they didn’t meet our standards, and so they will no longer be delivering on behalf of Evri. 

‘A new local courier is in place, and the team are monitoring deliveries in the area.’

In a separate incident this month another Evri driver was caught on camera – this time hurling packages in the back of his van.

Extraordinary video filmed in the midst of Christmas parcel mayhem showed the man pulling items from sacks and throwing them into the open door of his delivery vehicle. They included a large box marked ‘fragile’.

Flabbergasted customers described how the man ‘laughed off’ complaints when he handed over crumpled boxes. The driver was also said to have abandoned a pile of items in a high street before he crossed the road to deliver a package.

And footage from last week uncovered yet more evidence of Britain’s multimillion pound parcel epidemic ahead of Christmas.

A brazen thief called ‘Jay’ bragged of using violence as an ‘element of surprise’ to target unsuspecting delivery drivers and said he felt ‘like a kid’ when opening goods.

He also claimed he now targeted parcels as a ‘side hustle’ near the White City estate in west London because they were so easy to steal and potentially very lucrative.

Jay showed Channel 4 reporter Tir Dhondy some of the parcels still in their boxes including a Russell Hobbs slow cooker, Daewoo plastic kettle and 2kw fan heater.

In the clip, Tir asked Jay: ‘Have you any idea what’s inside them?’ 

He replied: ‘Not yet, but we’re gonna find out.’ Jay then confirmed most of the parcels were on a doorstep.

When he opened a box of cleaning products, he said: ‘In this game you take what you can get your hands on. We’ll see what else we’ve got, we might get something better.’

He then brought out a heater and a kettle within the next box, saying: ‘That will come in handy for someone.’

The footage was shared with the Daily Mail ahead of a Dispatches documentary which revealed a parcel is stolen every seven seconds in Britain.

It comes as the crime is now costing the UK an estimated £650million a year, with opportunistic thieves stealing from doorsteps and organised gangs using getaway cars with false numberplates and sophisticated tactics to hijack delivery vans in broad daylight.