Pensioner left with black eye after DPD driver threw parcel at her
The 78-year-old woman was hit on the head after a delivery driver chucked a parcel over her gate.
A partially sighted pensioner got a black eye after a delivery driver hurled a package over a fence which hit her in the face.
Marcia Hunt, 78, said she was asked to sign for a neighbour’s item but declined as she didn’t know them.
The former lawyer, from Westcliffe-on-Sea in Essex, said: ‘He was ringing the doorbell and just ranting so I went to tell him off.
‘I went outside to open the gate and it came over and whacked me. I was shocked and horrified.’
Door-cam footage shows the DPD driver quickly glancing behind him before chucking the parcel.
He threw it just as Marcia was walking round to speak to him at the gate and it hit her in the left eye.
She told The Sun: ‘It wasn’t too heavy and I don’t know what was inside but it gave me a black eye and grazes.
‘By the time I had realised what had happened, the driver had left. I was stunned.’
DPD said its driver’s behaviour was ‘unacceptable’, adding: ‘We are carrying out a full investigation. We will also be making a full apology.’
Meanwhile, parcel companies will be forced to improve their service and the way they handle complaints amid delivery woes.
Nearly two-thirds of customers have suffered problems in the past three months, found Ofcom, which plans to impose stricter rules.
A quarter found it difficult to make a complaint or contact firms, with almost one in ten never seeing any resolution.
And disabled customers were 50% more likely than others to suffer significant problems, the regulator said.
Some four billion parcels were delivered so far this year — over 50% more than in 2020.
‘Deliveries have become increasingly important to our daily lives and customers rightly expect a positive experience,’ said Lindsey Fussell, of Ofcom.
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‘We’re planning to strengthen our rules to make sure people are treated fairly. If we don’t see significant improvements in customer service, we’ll consider enforcement action.’
Ofcom wants rules to ensure parcel firms tell customers how to complain and how long it will take to resolve, plus more protection for disabled shoppers.
Consultation on the plans closes on March 3, with decisions due in summer.
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