Freelance couriers working for Hermes – one of Britain’s largest delivery companies – mishandle parcels, fail to complete next day orders and were told to lie to customers, an investigation by The Times has found
This month an undercover reporter worked for Hermes, which delivers online orders for retailers including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next, amid a surge in complaints about packages being late, damaged or lost
Managers watched as workers threw parcels to save time sorting them, sending many clattering into hard cages, against walls or on the floor
One manager admitted in the run-up to Christmas shoppers were paying for next day deliveries with no chance of these being fulfilled
Couriers were encouraged to mislead customers and “act stupid” if faced with complaints
Another worker suggested that the reporter should “tell them you started today”
Last night Hermes began a “full investigation”. A number of retailers that use the company for their deliveries said they were “alarmed” at the findings and have asked it for urgent explanations
The investigation’s findings include 👇
The disclosures come at a time of growing concern about consumers being failed by delivery services
Last month Citizens Advice ranked Hermes bottom of its delivery league table
In recent days Ofcom also rated Hermes lowest out of delivery companies for customer satisfaction
The reporter worked as one of Hermes’s 30,000 local couriers for about 17 hours, delivering or collecting 193 parcels
Hermes said it had launched a full urgent investigation into the findings but that it was confident the “vast majority” of allegations were “unfounded and do not reflect our business" 👇
📹 Read the full story and watch the undercover video
After a training process that involved watching 11 videos on his phone, our reporter was given an eye-opening insight into one of Britain’s best-known delivery firms
Exclusive: Simon Case, who has been tasked with investigating claims of a Christmas party at Downing Street, last year held his own office party the day before thetimes.co.uk/article/police…
The event on December 17, in room 103 of the Cabinet Office, began at 5:30pm and was listed in digital calendar invitations as “Christmas party!”
Pregnant women have been added to the list of those at higher risk from Covid, after research revealed the virus had increased the UK’s maternal death rate by about 50% thetimes.co.uk/article/pregna…
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said they should be prioritised for vaccination slots, with doctors and midwives calling on NHS jab sites to help pregnant women avoid standing for hours in queues for booster clinics
New surveillance data from the University of Oxford also revealed that four newborn babies died from Covid-19 between May and October this year, when the Delta variant was dominant
Cases appear to have peaked in the South African province where the Omicron variant was first discovered thetimes.co.uk/article/south-…
After extremely rapid early growth, Gauteng province, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, recorded 9,250 new cases yesterday, down from a high of over 11,000 earlier in the week
“This one is keeping us guessing, we are really apprehensive,” said Dr Nicholas Crisp, acting director-general in South Africa’s health department, who said he was cautiously hopeful
🗣 We always had a multilingual Santa and served beautiful vegetarian food. I think it gave refugee families a moment of respite, a moment to feel honoured and valued in a space that was safe and in which their children could be children and enjoy themselves
🗣 It was at one of these parties I was fortunate enough to meet the boy who would become our son
A morning with the Wallaces is like partaking in a documentary on Britain’s Greatest Xmas Addicts with a near-constant stream of terrible jokes, writes @Damwhit
The Masterchef star lives in a spacious home in Kent, set in six acres of woodland, with his wife Anna, their two-year-old son Sid, Gregg's grown up daughter Libby, and Anna's parents
It was at the height of the pandemic last year that the man now anchoring @BTSport’s coverage of the #Ashes decided to apply to Tesco for a job as a delivery driver
"I’m going to have to call my husband because you look and sound exactly like that sports presenter off the telly,” one customer told him as she answered her front door
Matt Smith (@msmith850) smiled. “Actually, I am that sports presenter off the telly"
“I’ve found the experience quite grounding, really. It puts things into perspective”
Smith now juggles three jobs, his other gig being a part-time lecturer in journalism at @StaffsUni