A Yorkshire gardener who ordered onion bulbs and snowdrop seeds from an online garden centre was left stunned when Yodel delivered him an illegal weapon instead of his plants.
David Morritt, 56, who lives on the outskirts of York, opened his parcel expecting to find the bulbs he’d ordered – only to discover a prohibited stun gun capable of discharging a large voltage of electricity into anyone unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end.
Possession of a stun gun in the UK can result in up to ten years imprisonment and a fine, meaning Yodel’s mix-up left an innocent customer technically in possession of a prohibited weapon through no fault of his own.
“I Thought It Was Some Sort of Key Fob”
David his local newspaper that the delivery had already been problematic before the illegal weapon turned up.
The parcel was initially delayed due to an address issue – a common frustration for anyone living in rural areas where delivery drivers struggle to locate properties. After correcting his address in the Yodel app, the parcel finally arrived on Saturday, February 14th.
“When I first opened it, I thought it was some sort of key fob, but I googled it and found that it was a stun gun,” David explained.
Upon closer inspection, David noticed multiple address labels underneath the one bearing his details, suggesting Yodel had simply stuck the wrong label on a parcel containing contraband and sent it on its merry way to an unsuspecting gardener.
“We’ve been bounced around by Yodel over my actual missing parcel for a week now, then they’ve given me an illegal weapon instead of my plants,” he added.
The Customer Service Nightmare That Followed
As if receiving an illegal weapon wasn’t bad enough, David then had to navigate Yodel’s customer service labyrinth to report what had happened.
His attempts to call Yodel’s customer service line on the Saturday were fruitless – he couldn’t speak to an actual human being. Email attempts to flag the issue also went nowhere.
It wasn’t until Monday, February 16th, that David finally managed to speak to a person, at which point he claims he was told that an investigation would only be opened if he returned the parcel so it could be redelivered to its original recipient.
Think about that for a moment. Yodel allegedly told a customer to return an illegal weapon so they could deliver it to whoever originally ordered it.
The instruction was later retracted by Yodel, though one has to wonder how that conversation went internally.
“Just Imagine If a Child Had Opened It”
David raised legitimate concerns about the lack of checks that allowed this to happen in the first place.
“You think that there would be more stringent checks – they’ve facilitated this being delivered,” he said. “Just imagine if a child or someone with nefarious intent had opened it.”
He added: “The biggest problem is that not only am I still waiting for my onions, but now I’ve got to get rid of an illegal weapon. When you press it, it sounds pretty angry – the noise it makes made my cats run away.”
David did the right thing by handing the stun gun in to North Yorkshire Police on February 18th, with officers confirming they’ve launched an investigation into how the weapon came to be in Yodel’s network in the first place.
A police spokesperson said: “Stun guns are prohibited weapons in the UK and it is therefore an offence to possess, purchase, acquire, manufacture, sell or transfer such a weapon, without lawful authority. In this case, the person who received the parcel did the absolute right thing in handing it into the police.”
Yodel’s Response
A Yodel spokesperson confirmed they were aware of the incident and had finally delivered David’s original onion bulbs, with a full investigation launched.
They said: “The safety of our customers is our top priority and dangerous or illegal items are strictly prohibited from being sent through our network. We are investigating the matter and will assist with any enquiries as required.”
The statement that dangerous or illegal items are “strictly prohibited” from being sent through their network rings somewhat hollow given that one just was – and ended up at the wrong address to boot.
How Does an Illegal Weapon End Up in a Courier Network?
The incident raises serious questions about what checks courier companies actually perform on parcels moving through their networks.
Stun guns are illegal to import or mail into the UK, yet one apparently made its way through Yodel’s system, got mislabelled, and was delivered to a random gardener in North Yorkshire.
If Yodel’s systems can’t prevent prohibited weapons from being shipped through their network, what else is slipping through unchecked?
The fact that multiple address labels were stacked on the parcel suggests this wasn’t a sophisticated smuggling operation – just basic human error compounding what was already a serious security failure.
For David, the saga at least had a happy ending of sorts. His onion bulbs finally arrived on Wednesday, February 18th – the same day he handed an illegal weapon in to police.
Not exactly the gardening experience he was hoping for.
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