A brazen DPD driver has been sacked after a 'disgusted' customer complained they had caught him 'faking delivery' of his £1,200 iPhone. Samuel Taylor ordered a £1,264 iPhone 17 Pro Max from Giffgaff and claims he received a photo of a DPD delivery posting his parcel through his letterbox on Monday, January 19 along with confirmation of its delivery.
However, after returning home from work, the 20-year-old was stunned when his dad told him the package never turned up. Video footage from the pair's security camera shows the delivery driver grabbing a parcel from the boot of his van and walking towards Samuel's house.
However, moments later, the driver appears to carry the same package back towards his van before driving off. The mechanic apprentice says he was left feeling 'shocked' and 'robbed' when he saw the footage and is 'annoyed' to still not have received it. After complaining to DPD, Samuel claims he was simply told the item had been delivered and he would need to contact Giffgaff instead.
After being contacted by journalists, DPD confirmed that the driver had been 'removed from the business' and they apologised 'wholeheartedly' to Samuel. Samuel who lives in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, said: "I'm really disgusted a delivery driver would act like this. I got an email saying my phone had been delivered with a picture of him trying to put it through the letterbox.
"When I got home my dad said it wasn't actually there. We checked the cameras and saw what happened. I was just really annoyed and I feel robbed. I don't think he noticed the cameras. I'm shocked someone could do that.
"I thought it might've gone back to the warehouse but we got in touch with DPD and they said it hadn't been signed back in. We knew pretty much straight away what had happened but we thought we'd give him a day to see if he'd bring it back but he hasn't. With something that expensive, it has to be signed for anyway so he shouldn't have put it through the letterbox."
Sharing the footage on social media, Samuel wrote: "Since DPD are not interested in their driver not delivering my £1,200 iPhone I thought I'd shame them on here. The driver shows that he's posted the item through our letterbox but unknown to him my CCTV caught him putting the phone back in his van and driving off."
Frustrated Samuel says the experience has left him now wanting to avoid DPD due to the way they have handled it. Samuel said: "I wouldn't want to use DPD again. I don't trust them anymore and they don't seem to be interested. I just feel left in the dark.
"DPD should take accountability for this. (The delivery driver) should be fired and the police should get involved because it's theft. I want my phone, I paid for it so I want it."
After being contacted by journalists, DPD said the driver had been removed from the business and Giffgaff said the 'initial deposit' had been refunded while they investigated. A DPD spokesperson said: "We have carried out a thorough investigation and can confirm that the driver has been removed from the business.
"We have a zero-tolerance approach to incidents such as this and will always take firm action. We apologise wholeheartedly to Mr Taylor and have informed Giffgaff."
A Giffgaff spokesperson said: "We're sorry to hear that Samuel did not receive his new iPhone as intended. We are aware of the issue and have identified that the proof of delivery was not compliant with our requirements.
"This has been raised with the delivery company and is under review. As is standard practice with such cases, we have also refunded the initial deposit to him."
Greater Manchester Police confirmed the incident had been reported to them.