Austrey residents' frustration over missing Evri parcels

Katie Hill said she was still waiting to hear back on parcels ordered in November

People in a village say they are furious and out of pocket as hundreds of parcels have gone undelivered over the past two months.

One resident in Austrey, near Atherstone, Warwickshire, said they were still waiting for Christmas presents for their children.

A small business owner added there had been problems for several months.

Evri said it apologised to anyone who had experienced issues in the area and added the backlog was being dealt with.

The issue appears to not be exclusive to Warwickshire, with customers in the north and south of England reporting problems. Evri apologised for pre-Christmas parcel delays at the start of December.

Other Austrey residents have said parcels were incorrectly showing as "delivered" on the firm's website, despite not receiving their items.

Mum Katie Hill said she was still waiting for several parcels from the courier, including a baby monitor.

"I ordered on 12 December and heard nothing until 18 December, when Evri said it wasn't delivered," she said.

One retailer from which she ordered, she explained, had agreed to refund her, but she added she was still waiting to hear back on items worth £200 purchased in November.

"In the village, it's really hard for people such as the elderly and those who don't drive, as they rely on deliveries," she said.

• Evri must review Christmas parcel issues, says MP

Residents claim missing parcels are being stored in cages at a yard

A Facebook group for residents has described how missing parcels have been sent to the Nottingham depot or have been stored outside a warehouse in Measham.

Emma Fish said her small business of 13 years was reliant on items being sent out from her home, but Evri had lost many of them.

"For the last few months there have been lots of problems - I ended up in a situation where two weeks of parcels were left uncollected by Evri.

"One of my customers told me how they had lost a parcel, because Evri had left it in the bin on bin day.

"Apparently, there isn't a driver for the local area so other drivers are being asked to cover the shifts," she said.

Ms Fish said she had been expecting eight parcels from Evri in November, with parcels incorrectly being marked as "delivered" despite no proof of delivery, leaving her £300 out of pocket.

Lisa Webb, a consumer rights expert for Which?, said affected customers should contact the retailer instead of the delivery company.

Emma Fish, a small business owner, has said she will no longer use Evri as a courier

"If a delivery goes missing, you should immediately contact the retailer to help track down the order or send a replacement," she said.

Evri said that during the Christmas period it had successfully delivered more than three million parcels each day, despite increased volumes due to Royal Mail strikes, staff shortages and severe weather.

"We apologise to anyone that has experienced delivery issues in the area and want to reassure them that we have a strong team in place that is dealing with any backlog," a spokesman said.