BBC NEWS | Programmes | Working Lunch

Since we told you about John Margerison, who lost valuable documents when Parcelforce left them in his wheelie bin, dozens of you have been in touch about packages that have gone astray.

Mary from Leeds lost a parcel of cheese which had been left in her wheelie bin. The company told her its staff would never do such a thing.

Stephen Perks sent a book to a customer. When it arrived it was in Chinese! He thinks the package must have come open and the wrong book was put in and sent on.

Anna Scott has had two parcels left in her bin and two thrown over a six-foot fence on to her patio.

To be fair, Parcelforce isn't the only company you've had problems with.

Barbara from West Yorkshire says White Arrow - another firm on your hit list - left two pairs of expensive shoes in her bin.

Click here to read more of your parcel delivery stories

But Parcelforce is your prime target - and managing director Vanessa Leeson says these incidents are not acceptable.

"It's not what we would do in our business. It's not what we train our drivers or requre them to do, so do accept my apologies," she told Working Lunch viewers.

We do have these incidents and we do deal with them firmly.

Vanessa Leeson
Parcelforce

"We do deliver a million parcels a week and although 98.5% of them do get there on time to the right place, every one of these is painful to our customers.

"The important thing to do is to reassure people that we do take this up with the drivers and that we do learn and listen to what customers say and act on it."

Instructions

Vanessa says the aim is that there will be no more packages left in wheelie bins by drivers.

"The key thing is that they can take some instructions from the customer and they should try to leave it somewhere that is safe and does get a signature," she explains.

Vanessa says the industry is working to give customers more choice about how and when parcels are delivered.

"There is a possibility to have your parcel delivered to your work address or perhaps to a relative or to one of our 16,000 counters outlets, because that could be much more convenient to the consumer.

"You can certainly, when you order goods, ask for them to be delivered by 9am, 10am or 12pm and we are also working with a number of retailers to run an evening delivery service."

You couldn't make it up...

Leslie from North Wales sent out some grass seeds to a customer. They were eventually returned with an angry note - the box was full of stainless steel milking machine tubes!

Richard in North Yorkshire sent a parcel to Leeds. The Parcelforce depot there said they had a team of people who looked for missing parcels but they couldn't help because they'd all been sent to York to look for missing parcels there.

Philip in Hampshire waited two months for a parcel. He eventually discovered it had been tucked into a corner of his greenhouse at the end of the garden all the time.

Jeanne from Staffordshire had a table lamp thrown over her back gate.

Tim from Surrey ordered a case of wine which was eventually found in the middle of a road eight miles away.

Susan Short had a box of wine glasses marked "Fragile" thrown over an eight-foot wall.

Retired postman Roger Capel recalls how a package of clotted cream was left in a coal bunker - just before the coal delivery. It was found six months later.

He also tells us about a parcel left in the bucket of a wishing well in a front garden. That turned up after a year.

Bob Jackman had a parcel left in a tree - though the delivery driver didn't specify which one!