SHOCKING footage has emerged of an Amazon delivery driver throwing a parcel at a homeowner's door as she watches in disbelief from her kitchen window.
Homeowner Esta Gale could not believe her eyes when she saw the driver toss the parcel containing an Amazon Echo at a door in Prestwich Avenue in Worcester at around 5pm on Thursday (June 26).
In the footage, the driver can be seen strolling up the garden path, leaving the gate wide open, before throwing the parcel, which spins through the air and lands hard on the doorstep.
It is unclear whether the Echo, a type of smart speaker which connects to a voice-controlled personal assistant, has been damaged.
The whole incident was captured on a 4K Verkada security camera and is now being investigated by Amazon.
Mrs Gale was so stunned she checked the footage straight away because she could not believe what she had witnessed.
Her husband Alan Gale is a former soldier who served with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) for 14 years but now works as a technical trainer on physical security products.
As a result of the Verkada camera he installed, he has been able to produce crystal clear footage of the incident which he has shared with Amazon bosses.
Mr Gale, 57, now refuses to open the parcel and intends to send it back in case the £60 device is damaged. He has also lodged a formal complaint with Amazon, which he said has assured him 'it will not happen again'.
The father-of-two said: "To be honest, I don't know if it's damaged but I'm going to send it back. I don't want it to break in one week or two weeks and for them to turn around and say I have done something wrong.
"The box was clearly marked as an Amazon Echo so he must have known it was a piece of electrical equipment before he launched it 10 ft up the pathway", said the former staff sergeant who was decorated for tours in Northern Ireland, in the Gulf War and with the United Nations.
He added: "It was literally surreal. You can't believe somebody would save themselves two steps and would be so unprofessional they could not just place it down.
"He still had to take a photograph of the parcel anyway. I don't know what he could have done that could have been less professional."
An Amazon spokesperson: “We have very high standards for our delivery partners and expect every package to be handled with care. We are working with the customer directly to resolve this.”
