Britain Today

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I won't repeat the word 'standards'... it's obvious now that the quality of lifestyle for our 'overseas'
residents no longer equates to my own.

Do you live in one of the UK's 'porch pirate' hotspots? Interactive map shows where thieves
hit the most to steal deliveries left on doorsteps

''Porch pirates' who prey on unguarded parcels are set to pose a major headache for shoppers across
Britain in the run up to Christmas, with the problem growing year-on-year, MailOnline can reveal.

Opportunistic thieves are making off with goods potentially worth hundreds of pounds at a time after
spotting boxes dropped off at homes by couriers during the day when their recipients aren't in, postal
industry experts say.

Freedom of Information requests sent to police forces reveal some constabularies are receiving multiple
reports of parcel theft each day, with one in 10 households reporting the loss of a package last year.
The problem also gets worse at this time of year, with a quarter of all theft reports in the year to August
made in November and December.

Of the forces that responded, Hertfordshire Constabulary reported the greatest number of parcel thefts
per head of population: 73 per 100,000, or 877 throughout the year - equivalent to more than two thefts
a day. Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, West Mercia and Lancashire also reported high rates of parcel
theft, each reporting at least one parcel theft per day on average. Cheshire, North Wales, Gwent,
Lincolnshire and Derbyshire constabularies reported the lowest rates of parcel theft of the forces
that responded to the request.



Some police services also detailed the estimated value of stolen parcels - with the highest average value
of a lost package reported by central Welsh force Dyfed-Powys at £251.62. Cambridge and Northumbria
also reported the average value of a lost parcel to be over £100 - causing financial headaches for their
true recipients.

Tech firm Quadient, which requested the numbers, estimates that parcel theft has surged 500 per cent
since 2019. Estimates it has produced based on data it received from the police suggest over 16,000
reports of parcel theft have been made in the UK in the year to August, up from 2,707 for the same
period four years ago.

It hasn't requested the data for nothing; the firm produces parcel lockers that people can send post to if
they can't be in to collect it during the 9-to-5 hours that most parcel companies operate in - and claims
these would stamp out the problem of 'porch pirates'.

Katia Bourgeais-Crémel, executive vice-president of Quadient's parcel locker division, says the problem
has been exacerbated recently by the cost-of-living crisis, with desperate thieves keen to make a quick
buck. But it has also been worsened by the fact that many people who would have stayed in to wait for
parcels during the coronavirus pandemic. It says 22-34-year-olds - many of whom are now returning to
offices - were most likely to report lost packages.

Ms Bourgeais-Crémel said: 'The plague of porch piracy has intensified during the cost-of-living crisis,
with nationwide parcel theft increasing more than 500% since 2019. 'Unattended items on doorsteps
are just waiting to be stolen. The number reported to the police could have increased in part due to
better awareness of the importance of reporting.

'However, when you consider more than one in ten households had a parcel stolen last year, porch piracy
is clearly a big problem for businesses and consumers across the UK.' She added that shoppers deserve
better from parcel companies, which need to embrace people's work-led lifestyles and consider offering
locker drop-off services.

Some couriers do offer drop-off services, whether at lockers or corner shops, but others will simply reattempt
delivery until they give up and send parcels back to their senders. She concluded: 'This is leaving retailers
and couriers spending time and money replacing stolen deliveries and adding strain to customer services.

'In households that do their Christmas shopping online, retailers' brand perception could take a serious knock
if people are left without a present to unwrap on Christmas morning.' MailOnline has reported on a number of
incidents of brazen parcel theft in recent months, often committed in broad daylight.

Earlier this year a man and a woman were caught on camera in Holland Park stretching through a locked gate
to drag a Victoria's Secret package across the ground before wrenching it over the fence.

In September, Amazon customer Ben Palmer watched via his doorbell camera as a man brazenly ran to his
doorstep, picked up packages and ran away. Mr Palmer said at the time: 'I thought it was brave that someone
in broad daylight would do that. That they would jump out of a van and steal a parcel like that.'...'

The Daily Mail:


"...I thought it was brave that someone in broad daylight would do that" -A perfect example of how
the weak allow such behaviour. One would suspect Mr Palmer would also add "It's okay because they
don't know any better".