DPD driver 'refuses' to help disabled woman bring large boxes inside her home

A disabled woman from Surrey has described feeling 'discriminated against' when a DPD delivery driver refused to carry her parcels inside her home.

Jessica Sturrock, 47, claims she was told by the DPD delivery driver to 'not order things if she can’t bring them inside herself'.

Jessica lives with type 3 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a muscle-wasting disease which predominantly affects her legs and means she is a full-time wheelchair user.

She had ordered two chairs which arrived at her home in Horley, earlier than anticipated on Thursday, March 2.

After answering the door she came across the two large boxes on her doorstep and asked the delivery driver if he could bring the packages inside as she was at home alone. Jessica claims he refused, at first saying it was not “company policy” for him to bring the items in.

DPD has since apologised, and said the behaviour 'isn’t acceptable'.

“I was so shocked, he carried on refusing saying it wasn’t company policy,” Jessica said.

“I was told in no uncertain terms by him I should ‘plan better’. Did he just not want me to be disabled on the day he was delivering?

“I was made to feel like a nuisance, I was quite upset and angry by it because I didn't think I was asking for too much. You’re literally talking about two or three steps. He said I should use a different courier if I wanted something brought into the house.

“His next suggestion was that I ask my neighbour to lift it in for me, my neighbour is an 80-year-old woman. The thing that really upset me was that he went on to tell me that perhaps I shouldn’t order things if I’m disabled and I can’t get them inside.

“It was really hurtful. I was made really angry by his obvious ableism and his lack of help. I was shaking, I was really upset.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for DPD said: “We are very sorry to hear about this.

“We take accessibility very seriously indeed at DPD and have introduced a range of options for parcel recipients to help, including the ‘More Time Needed’ preference in the DPD app, in recognition of the fact that some people need more help at the door.

“While our drivers do an incredible job and regularly go above and beyond for customers, the behaviour here isn’t acceptable.

"We wish to apologise to Jessica and can confirm that action will be taken with the driver, and they will receive retraining.”

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