Delivery driver caught throwing parcel over gate

A My Hermes delivery woman has been caught on camera casually hurling a parcel over a customer's gate.

The video, caught by a home security camera, shows the woman walking up to the gate, which is closed. But instead of even trying to open it, she simply raises the parcel over her head and throws it as far down the path as she can.

The video has been posted on Twitter by the recipient of the parcel, Mat Furber, under the title 'Thank you for the smooth and safe delivery of my parcel. It has since been retweeted more than seven thousand times.

One of those viewers was My Hermes itself, which says it plans to investigate.

"In order for us to escalate this matter further please can you DM us with the full delivery name and address," a company representative asked Mr Furber.

"I am sorry to see this and would like to apologise for the inconvenience this incident has caused."

But other viewers have piled in with horror stories of their own.

"I've had parcels in bins, thrown over fences, broken," writes one. "They put mine in a recycling bin the night before recycling bin day," says another.

Another described how a My Hermes delivery person had put £300-worth of Christmas presents in their wheelie bin... on top of a bag of dog mess.

My Hermes has been in trouble before for its controversial delivery methods: last summer, for example, we reported on the case of Benjamin Ward, of Hove, East Sussex, who arrived home to discover he'd missed a delivery.

The card through his door read: "Stuck on roof - sorry!" - and his parcel was wedged in a gutter 20 feet up.

There's no excuse for this sort of behaviour, of course, but My Hermes' employment practices must take some of the blame. Delivery workers are self-employed and paid per delivery, giving them a big incentive to cut corners.

Customers should, though, be aware that they do have a comeback. Under the Sale of Goods Act, it's the seller's responsibility to make sure that customers receive their goods in satisfactory condition and within a reasonable time - 30 days in the case of goods ordered online.

And if a scheduled delivery fails to turn up and you're forced to take a second day off work to wait in, you can claim for a day's lost income.

Read more on AOL Money:

Courier decides to leave delivery in the bin

Yodel voted UK's Worst Delivery Operator

We help reader win refund from eBay