Dulwich residents have had their parcels swiped from their doorsteps in the lead up to Christmas.
Multiple residents of Pellatt Road have told the News that various delivery items had been taken from their doorsteps before they arrived home to pick them up.
“There have been loads on our street alone,” said resident Alice Carr, “but it seems it’s happening all over the area.
“We had parcels left by the delivery company by our door, with the bin in front, but there are people working the area and they go down the street after the vans and take the parcels.
“The delivery drivers don’t have time to deliver to neighbours or come back and so they just leave them outside.”
The robbery victims hypothesise that the thieves grab the packages and open them at the scene, after one resident found a pile of discarded Amazon packages around the corner of the street.
The string of robberies has led to the formation of a WhatsApp group for the road to share stories of them. Another resident, Nicholas Boyles, said that even though the delivery companies tended to offer refunds to those affected, the thievery was still infuriating.
“My sister sent me a present for my son,” he said. “We got a message saying ‘parcel was handed to resident,’ but it wasn’t handed to me or my partner as we were both working.
“No one from the WhatsApp group has said they have it, and another resident has said the same has happened to them too, so I can only assume someone is waltzing around saying they live at these addresses and stealing the parcels.
“My sister is getting a refund but that’s not the point, it’s still such a nasty thing to do – especially at Christmas. It makes me so angry!”
Nicholas has reported the crime to the police, who have yet to respond to the News’ inquiry into how they plan to tackle the series of thefts.
Amazon and others have a terrible delivery service . Always best to only buy from people who use Royal Mail as they cannot leave them on the doorstep …or get sent to a shop or locker to pickup . Nothing is safe in London