Shocking moment Evri delivery driver carelessly throws parcels into the GUTTER in front of disgusted customer

This is the shocking moment an Evri delivery driver carelessly throws parcels out of his van and into a gutter in front of a disgusted customer.

The courier in Torquay, Devon, hurled the packages, which are a range of sizes, in front of photographer Maciej Olszewski, who was worried one of the items could be his new camera.

Now footage has emerged of the incident, which took place on April 18 and sees the driver's white delivery van parked on the side of the road.

A growing pile of parcels is scattered along the gutter below the pavement just a couple of yards away from a drain.

With the rear door of the van open, a brown cardboard box can be seen getting chucked from inside the vehicle and into the gutter before a softer bright blue package joins it on the side of the road.

As the camera zooms in on the large pile of items due for delivery, another couple of soft parcels go flying out of the van.

Finally, a large and heavy-looking carboard box is thrown out of the vehicle and lands on top of a number of the other packages.

The shocking scene takes place in broad daylight as cars zoom past along the busy road.  

Evri has told The Sun that the driver responsible for hurling the packages has been put on a 'training course' but remains employed by the firm.

The company added that they take their responsibility to 'care' for every parcel 'seriously'.

Mr Olszewski, who was on his way to work when he witnessed the incident, said he had received damaged packages before.

'I thought "what the f*** could this be my new camera?"' he said.

'Someone could have stolen them just as easily.' 

In December, the Mail went undercover at the delivery company after it was dubbed Britain's 'worst' courier firm.

We found a workforce, scrambled together following minimal training, battling to earn minimum wage in all weathers — to which those soggy parcels can testify.

Desperate for drivers in the run-up to Christmas, and amid what was billed as the 'biggest recruitment drive in our history', our reporter was offered work by Evri within hours of completing an online application.

Having then received just three hours face-to-face training he was immediately sent out on the road with a car-load of 30 parcels.

While Evri claims that drivers 'have the chance to earn a competitive rate of £10 to £15 per hour', he discovered that to hit those figures, he needed to deliver a parcel at a rate of one every couple of minutes — a tall order.

It meant that over four days spent collecting, loading and delivering from a depot in the Midlands, on no day did his basic pay reach the minimum wage of £10.42 an hour.

Evri, meanwhile, insists 'new starters' like our reporter would in fact earn in excess of that figure because they are given bonus payments for the first few days to make up for their lack of experience.

It should be noted that minimum wage laws do not apply to self-employed couriers.

His total pay for the four days was £107.25, including £3.44 for collecting a handful of parcels for onward delivery by Evri.

For the 187 packages he delivered he received, on average, 55p per item. The rounds covered about 50 miles, using £8-worth of petrol, not including return travel to the depot from home each day.

When approached by the Mail, an Evri spokesperson said: 'All couriers earn above the national minimum wage with pay averaging over £15 an hour, with many earning much more at this busy time of the year.

'New starters receive training and top-up payments because they will not be as quick as more established couriers.

'Couriers are super-organised, have great time management, and live in their local community which means they know the area and routes, earning over 3 million five-star reviews on Trustpilot. Some people find the job isn't for them because of the need to have these skills and qualities.

'The change of name to Evri was a result of the UK business being sold by Hermes to Advent, not reputational reasons as you state. As the business was no longer part of the Hermes group it could not retain that name.'

Evri challenged the accuracy of the reporter's findings, saying their data shows couriers average 124 parcels scanned and loaded within 30 minutes and that previous couriers on the same rounds earned around £18 per hour.

Their data showed he was also slow moving between drop-off points. New joiners are given an additional payment of £120 as they gain experience.

The Mail understands that couriers are supposed to sort parcels 'from cage to cage' rather than laying them on the ground. As for cars being over-loaded with parcels, couriers are trained how to safely sort parcels and are able to do two runs, with additional compensation.

Tight margins and, for some, the flexibility of the job make up for the hard work and hidden costs involved.