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Courier "lost" high value parcels


I'm reluctant to post too many details here but the salient facts are these:
- A national/international courier used by my brother's business picked up a furniture item valued approximately £500. This item was meant for another courier. It was subsequently never recovered and my brother was £500 out of pocket
- He was insured but the courier class effectively every single item that could break in transit as being ineligible to insure so the policy was useless
- We have submitted in initial proceedings for small claims etc. They finally responded at length denying any kind of wrongdoing and said they are unwilling to mediate. This means court.
A number of things.
Firstly, the court is in the home city of this company's headquarters, on the other side of the country. Are these court sessions online nowadays or are they in person as it seems unreasonable for us to travel so far
Secondly more pressingly, what can we do to win the case?
We have doorbell footage of them taking the parcel, which they admit.
My suggestion was that we report it to the police as a theft. It's over £250 so unless I'm wrong they will investigate to some extent. At the very least we'll get a crime number. However I am aware under the Theft Act 1968 you have to prove the person intended to steal. This seems like it will be difficult, but under the act, would walking out of a shop with something that wasn't yours mistakenly, be considered theft? If so then it seems more likely there could be a legal case and not just a civil one against the company. They have "misplaced" other parcels, which in my albeit limited understanding of the legal system, would seem to aid the argument that the parcels being lost was not an act of incompetence or human error, but rather deliberate. The business is registered at the home address, couriers are paid a pittance, there's the motive and means etc for them to commit theft.
Regardless of whether or not it is intentional or just incompetence, without me sharing further details, is there anything anyone can advise here? The company in question is basically arguing it's the other company's fault, the company who the parcel was meant to be for. I may be willing to disclose litigation documents to anyone curious enough with a background in civil and criminal law, but do not wish to prejudice future proceedings.
Comments
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How on earth could the courier company pick up the wrong parcel? How was that allowed to happen?
If a consumer claimant initiates court action against a trader, I thought that the consumer claimant could opt to have the case heard at a court convenient to them, not the defendant?
3 -
Did he check the insurance before he sent it to make sure that the item was covered up to the correct amount? Are they refusing to pay up because they’re questioning whether the insurance cover was valid?Why are they saying it’s the other companies fault? Are they saying that they did deliver it to the other company and the other company are denying it? Without clarifying the reasons that you’ve been given it’s all a bit confusing.
I can’t see how you can prove theft when couriers lose items all the time. Given the number of items that they accept every day, quantifying that as theft rather than carelessness seems unlikely.All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.2 -
elsien said:Did he check the insurance before he sent it to make sure that the item was covered up to the correct amount? Are they refusing to pay up because they’re questioning whether the insurance cover was valid?Why are they saying it’s the other companies fault? Are they saying that they did deliver it to the other company and the other company are denying it? Without clarifying the reasons that you’ve been given it’s all a bit confusing.
I can’t see how you can prove theft when couriers lose items all the time. Given the number of items that they accept every day, quantifying that as theft rather than carelessness seems unlikely.
Basically, my brother was using two couriers with two different labels on boxes. The courier who we are lookign to take to court (lets call them Courier A). They took a package which was supposed to be delivered to a customer via Courier B.
Courier A is alleging my brother's contract was with some subdivision of Courier A, not Courier A themselves and thus the claim needs to be with this subdivision. To be honest, reading their answer is a confusing mess. No doubt I'm confusing you too.
In a nutshell, Courier A took a parcel meant for Courier B, but Courier A is alleging my brother's contract was with a subdivision/partner of Courier A and not Courier A themselves.
Courier A isn't saying outright it's not their fault, but they're not saying it isn't their fault either.
1 -
Manxman_in_exile said:How on earth could the courier company pick up the wrong parcel? How was that allowed to happen?
If a consumer claimant initiates court action against a trader, I thought that the consumer claimant could opt to have the case heard at a court convenient to them, not the defendant?
We want to avoid that though. We just want to get them to court and pay the money. We'll send in the bailiffs/enforcers to collect if they refus1 -
elsien said:Did he check the insurance before he sent it to make sure that the item was covered up to the correct amount? Are they refusing to pay up because they’re questioning whether the insurance cover was valid?Why are they saying it’s the other companies fault? Are they saying that they did deliver it to the other company and the other company are denying it? Without clarifying the reasons that you’ve been given it’s all a bit confusing.
I can’t see how you can prove theft when couriers lose items all the time. Given the number of items that they accept every day, quantifying that as theft rather than carelessness seems unlikely.0 -
Manxman_in_exile said:How on earth could the courier company pick up the wrong parcel? How was that allowed to happen?
If a consumer claimant initiates court action against a trader, I thought that the consumer claimant could opt to have the case heard at a court convenient to them, not the defendant?
2 -
Im more confused than ever. Are you saying there were 2 items which were meant to be collected by 2 different couriers and one courier has taken both, or are you saying that courier A was supposed to deliver the item to courier B who in turn was supposed to deliver on to the customer?2
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I can't imagine the police being interested in this, it sounds like an error rather then dishonest intent.If this has happened more then once, shouldn't steps also be taken by the company sending the parcels to prevent this happening?1
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Civic2056 said:
My suggestion was that we report it to the police as a theft. It's over £250 so unless I'm wrong they will investigate to some extent. At the very least we'll get a crime number. However I am aware under the Theft Act 1968 you have to prove the person intended to steal. This seems like it will be difficult, but under the act, would walking out of a shop with something that wasn't yours mistakenly, be considered theft? If so then it seems more likely there could be a legal case and not just a civil one against the company.
2 -
How do you intend to prove theft when its a mistake. Why was no-one from your brothers company checking what was being taken from the premises?2
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