Delivery company Evri has apologised to customers after enormous sackfuls of its parcels were left in the woods. The deliveries were discovered dumped at the end of Beacon Road in Luton, Chatham.

A local resident made the find while out walking in a wooded area near Ash Tree Lane.

Evri, previously known as Hermes, has issued an apology to impacted customers and says it’s since retrieved the items.

Reacting to pictures of the abandoned parcels posted on social media, one disappointed resident said that this could be why their package didn’t arrive.

While another online shopper added that they’d been waiting for a parcel since November 25 and they couldn’t get through to anyone.

The courier firm recently opened a huge new distribution depot nearby in Aylesford, Maidstone.

It’s come under fire in recent weeks following several complaints submitted by customers about unexplained delivery delays.

Shoppers have also raised problems over Evri’s tracking app and online support service.

A spokeswoman from Evri said that they could confirm that they were warned about a number of parcels that had been abandoned at a local fly-tipping site.

She said that their local team visited immediately and retrieved the items and that they contacted the police who were taking the necessary steps and they have also launched a full investigation, and that they apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to reassure the public that this was a rare incident and wouldn’t affect deliveries moving forward.

She said everyone involved would be contacted and replacements or refunds organised.

Medway Council was also notified and was urging anyone with information to come forward.

Ian Gilmore, head of regulatory and environmental services at Medway Council said that the council investigates all fly-tipping incidents and would take all appropriate enforcement action.

He said anyone with details about the incident would be urged to contact their Environmental Enforcement team by phoning 01634 333333.

In a different incident, a large number of items were also discovered abandoned behind Medway Maritime Hospital.

They were discovered opposite a block of flats on land off Longhill Avenue and a local said the landowner had been told.

Unfortunately, it appears to be something every day with this company and perhaps they should give up the delivery game, and if it’s not one courier service, then it’s another. Sadly, it’s becoming a familiar culture that over the last few years we’ve all witnessed and experienced.

If anything you would have thought that the common practice of using tracking data would help with assisting in such matters, especially as both the firm and drivers are at fault in such cases.

You would have thought that because of such complaints previous to this that Evri should have at least vetted its workers prior to any hiring, including any contractual 3rd party agencies that may have been utilised. Either way, I think that we can all agree that this type of discourteous conduct needs to be controlled and perhaps even legislated to stop such low standards from occurring again.

And why would anyone believe that just because they switched names that the service would suddenly be any better?

These firms need to be made an example of, to prevent this dishonest and egomaniacal conduct, and when I see that my package is being delivered by Royal Mail, I’m inspired and relieved even with the walkouts that are going on, Royal Mail is still miles ahead from other courier companies.

Evri and Yodel are beyond doubt the worst, they deliver without ringing the doorbell and chuck stuff over garden fences without no effort to deliver properly and they just lose orders without a trace.