Yodel has responded to allegations in the national press over deliveries of poppies from the Tower of London memorial.
A number of newspapers, including the Daily Mail online, alleged that a number of poppies, which are being sold for £25 each, had petals broken off.
Dick Stead, executive chairman of Yodel, said: “It’s a great privilege to be delivering all 888,246 poppies and we have briefed our staff to act with special care. One poor delivery is one too many. If anyone is found to have not treated the parcels with the respect they require, they will face disciplinary action.”
Referring to YouTube footage showing a delivery driver throwing a poppy, Stead said: “We are immensely relieved to hear the poppy was undamaged, but have taken the incident very seriously and have suspended the courier with immediate effect.
Stead also pointed out that some of the issues surrounding the poppies concern damage and packaging problems, for which Yodel is not wholly responsible. “Yodel is not a packaging company and is responsible for the delivery of the poppies only. We are very sorry to hear that a small number of poppies have arrived broken and there is a process in place to provide replacements where this occurs.”
And he said: “To date, we have delivered over 126,000 poppies, of which 0.12 per cent have resulted in queries, and we have promptly rectified and apologised for all of these.
“We ask that anyone who has a question or complaint should call us immediately on 0844 453 7443 with their tracking number, address and the name of the recipient. You can also track parcels on myyodel.co.uk and contact us on twitter @yodelonline. We have had no complaints from our client who is arranging delivery via Yodel and we speak to them every day.”
