What's the legal situation with non-delivered parcels?

Undervalued

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

Undervalued said:

They clearly can't have a depot or counter service arrangement within walking distance of every rural address in the UK. 

No they can't, the collection point drop off is mainly to save DPD money by not having to go back to the address the next day. 

I agree DPD may/can have terms stipulating restrictions to carriage based on whatever they wish really but as you say that doesn't concern the consumer.

Undervalued said:Are they really expected to leave such parcels in these sort of arrangements?

In a situation similar to the OP, DPD would take ours to a Coop store, I'm not really sure that's particularly secure either... 

It's ironic they are keen to deliver to a safe place (to save costs), ask you to sign away liability when opting for a safe place (whether this is worth the digital paper it's printed on is debatable) but in OP's case want him to drive 18 miles because the driver is too busy to drive to the farm and then walk to OP's front door. 

Maybe not but the difference is that DPD have decided on that arrangement and have made a informed judgement about its suitability and risks. Maybe the CoOp assume the risk in exchange for whatever fee they get?

When it is a "safe place" that the householder has chosen they have no control, other than authorising the individual driver to make an instant judgement or rely on their disclaimer that the risk passes to the householder.

As we know, a doorstep photo (or similar) only proves that they visited the correct place. It doesn't prove that the parcel was actually left there after the photo was taken.