Recent research has revealed that Bedfordshire Police have logged 600 offences against delivery drivers, with only 34 resulting in an arrest.
In one incident, a delivery driver was attacked on Mile Road, Bedford. Officers reported they found the victim ”covered in blood”, wounds to their head, right hand, and ‘between the thumb and index finger on [their] left hand’.
There are now calls to amend the Crime and Policing Bill to include a standalone offence of assaulting a delivery worker.
Attacks doubled
Personal injury specialists at Legal Expert found that attacks on delivery drivers in Bedfordshire rose sharply after 2020, when 53 crimes against couriers were recorded; the year after, the number almost doubled to 113.
Out of the 600 crimes spanning between 2019-2024, 174 were ‘vehicle offences’, 109 cases of ‘violence without injury’, and 83 cases of ‘violence with injury’, 38 accounts of theft and shockingly two recorded rapes.
The figures work out to be more than one violent attack on a delivery driver every fortnight.
73 ‘public order offences’ were recorded, including racial abuse, and 20 bikes were reported as stolen, making up around a fifth of robbery reports by the force.
A robbery case summary in Luton said that a driver was ‘grabbed… by the scruff of the neck and pulled out of [their] car’ before the car was stolen.
Due to the crimes, Labour MP for Knowsley Anneliese Midgley petitioned Parliament to amend the Crime and Policing Bill to include a standalone offence of assaulting a delivery worker.
Awful trend
The proposal has been backed by many in the industry, including Deliveroo, which has reported a 28% rise in abusive incidents against its drivers within six months.
However, the bill has proceeded to the House of Lords without the amendment being accepted, meaning delivery drivers will still not be covered by a separate UK Law.
Concerning overall rises in retail crime, Helen Dickerson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Only if the industry, Government and police work together, can we finally see this awful trend reverse.”
Published as part of our work experience partnership with Kimberley College
