Usdaw has surveyed over 300 retail home delivery drivers working mainly in the grocery sector and employed by a range of companies including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Asda, Morrisons and Iceland. The results show that in the last twelve months:
- 77% had been a victim of abuse.
- 13% were assaulted.
- 26% had refused a delivery due to fear for their own personal safety.
Retail home delivery drivers are required to obtain proof of age for a number of products which are subject to age-related sales legislation. If they fail to obtain it, they may be liable for prosecution – resulting in a heavy fine and/or disciplinary action from the employer. The Crime and Policing Bill introduces a new legal requirement on drivers to verify a customer’s age when delivering knives ordered online. Similar legislation in Scotland, introduced in 2001, does include delivery drivers.
Joanne Thomas – Usdaw general secretary says: “Usdaw fully supports the Government’s determination to tighten up the regulation of the online sale of knives. Having seen the horrors of the Southport murders and knowing that the weapons used in this atrocity were ordered online, it is absolutely crucial that more is done to safeguard against underage sales. Important in tightening up the process is the role of the delivery driver, who is legally required to conduct a final age verification on the customer’s doorstep. These checks also apply to all age-restricted products, including alcohol and tobacco. Our members tell us this can be very problematic and they feel vulnerable to attack.
“The Crime and Policing Bill includes a much-needed protection of retail workers’ law, but it isn’t clear that this will apply to delivery drivers. So, we are looking for the Government to clarify that those important protections don’t only apply to in-store workers. We would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Minister, along with trade bodies and employers, to further explore the protection of delivery drivers as part of the Government’s efforts to tighten up the regulation of the online sale of knives.”
Voices from the frontline: Some of the comments received from delivery drivers when completing the Usdaw survey:
- “I tried to refuse a delivery once due to the customer’s unchecked aggression; he then ripped the shopping from my hands, hit me, chased me down the road, kept yelling and swearing while coming after me.”
- “I once made a delivery to a house where the son answered. I asked for identification as he was young, so his mum came down the stairs shouting and screaming at me saying I don’t need to see his identification.”
- “Customer left their 18-year-old to receive the delivery but he had no ID, so they had to return from the party they were at in order to receive it. Customer then proceeded to berate and shout at me for not leaving it with his son.”
- “One time, a customer took out some items of his shopping and threw it at me saying he did not order the items.”
- “A customer got abusive, shouting and swearing at me, then proceeded to throw the delivery trays at me.”
Notes for editors:
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is one of the fastest growing unions in the TUC and the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades www.usdaw.org.uk
Abuse is not part of the job for delivery drivers: www.usdaw.org.uk/430
Crime and Policing Bill 2025: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938
For Usdaw press releases visit: www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Bluesky @usdawunion.bsky.social and Twitter/X @UsdawUnion