DPD driver stole money from my porch - AIBU?

[Snorkers]

I left £190 in cash under a plant pot in my porch for a delivery of logs today while i took the dogs for a quick toilet trip (15 mins). I live out in the sticks and no one has any reason to be on my property unless they are delivering something.
My neighbour saw the delivery driver behaving suspiciously, spending far longer than needed at my door and lifting up the pot in question.
My parcel was then put in a weird place next to a drain.
When I got back 5 mins later the money was gone.
OK I know it is not a secure place and I certainly won't be doing it again, but I live in a tiny little village with no through traffic.
I am trying to report to the police, but DPD are not interested.
AIBU to expect them to question the driver?

"The neighbour is old and rich"

"He was working on his car........"

Pensioner working outside in the winter, can't he afford to take it to a garage?

What does it matter if the neighbour can afford to take his car to a garage? How on earth is that relevant to anything. Anyone who can fix their own car would be stupid to take it to a garage. Are people not allowed to do outdoor work when it's chilly?

@OrgyofSausages my DPD driver often signs it in my name if I'm not in and leaves in my porch

@Snorkers just as an aside, you may want to check that an unlocked porch doesn't invalidate your home insurance.

My GP's used to have an unlocked porch, but a double locked inside front door and once were burgled. The police investigated but never caught the person who did it, and the insurance company didn't pay out as there was a door that could have had a lock on to provide extra security, but wasn't...

Just a thought

I do think your neighbor sounds suspicious actually. Being old and rich doesn’t mean you don’t pinch stuff. Some of the worst shoplifters I encountered at work were old and very rich!

I am in awe of your amazing police force. At 5.10pm you hadn't rang them yet and by 5.47pm you had got through, actually got through to an officer and they were arranging dusting of prints.
Then they sent you a personal txt message. I need to live where you do OP

I grew up in a village where people think nothing of doing stuff like that (plant pot, doors unlocked etc)
I still say though you have absolutely no proof it's the delivery driver.
Could have been anyone including the neighbour.

Oh and forgot to add - your police force is amazing, they don't half dust for fingerprints and question quick as well etc.

Next time, leave your money with the neighbour to pay for logs?

Police said they are looking into it and will consider dusting for prints but it's been passed to an investigator to decide

Sweetie, this isn't a Sunday night police tv series set in the 1960s you know...

@ChocolateTearDrops 🤣

Seriously though OP if this tale is true I'm gutted for you and it's an expensive lesson to learn.

I think its the neighbour. Could be thrill seeking. Could be mentally ill. Could be trying to get your attention.

Couriers are under intense time pressure. They get allocated like 2 minutes per drop off. That's why they do things like post it thru your downstairs loo window. They need to do the drop and go to the next. The courier company would easily detect any delay.

Was the money sticking out from under the plant pot?

Why would the dpd driver lift it up otherwise?

Unless he was looking for a spare key to come back later, in which case he needs to be investigated by the police to see whether there has been any other suspicious activity surrounding his deliveries.

I also thought the neighbour was disabled but is working on his car. So what's top stop him taking the money? If he loves directly opposite I'm sure he will have seen you put something in the pot.

I say it was the neighbour!

of course the neighbour didn't take the money From my house I could see a delivery man at my nearest neighbour and would register if he'd been there longer than normal, usually they can't get back in their vans quickly enough and while I might not immediately think they were up to no good I'd remember it later and no way would anyone's assumption be that I'd taken the money, that's just daft

That really isn't evidence the OP's neighbour didn't take the money. It actually gives him the ideal opportunity. He knows her routines, knows the money is under the pot, sees the DPD driver deliver something and realises it's his ideal opportunity to swipe it and blame someone else.

The other thing to consider is that someone knows the routine the log delivery driver has. I live rurally and there are thieves who follow oil tankers and then siphon off oil from full tanks. If someone knows that cash is likely to be left out when deliveries are due they could very likely take advantage of easy pickings. And at this time of year when many people are having parcels delivered, it's easy to point the finger at delivery drivers.

Based on my experiences with dpd, I would fully suspect the delivery driver, even if I lived in a cul de sac with the Artful Dodger, a Great Train Robber, Danny Ocean, Robin Hood, Irene Adler, the cast of The Italian Job and the Pink sodding Panther.

I had a DPD delivery guy once tell me he had to hang around for a minute or two because he was actually early so I wasn't able to sign for or be given my parcel until his little device let him. I'm always given an hour window when the DPD delivery will be so it was believable that he wasn't allowed to be early but a bit daft.

Very foolish to leave such a large amount of money unattended, lesson to be learnt there.
You have no proof the dpd driver took the attended money.

I bought a house in a small village. There was no front door key and no-one could remember there ever having been one (listed). Didn't need one as my door was covered by the neighbours all who knew exactly who came and went when

That's cool for thieves etc but what if an insane serial killer ran up to your house, in burst through your (unlocked) door and kill you in your bed or shower? Yes the neighbours would probably have seen him go in but that's not gonna stop you having an ice pick in your eye. 🤷🏽‍♂️

I am not so concerned about your neighbour being rich that he has to still work on his own car, but I would be concerned at why somebody elderly and “semi disabled” was outside on a freezing cold day in the middle of December?

also do you always take your dogs to town for a “toilet trip”?

If your neighbour was working outside and you knew the log delivery driver was coming, why did you not just give the money to him and ask him to run across the road to pay the log delivery guy if you’re not back?

@Snorkers i understand completely. I too live very rurally. We had a mad panic a few years ago that we had no idea where our back door key was. We never locked up, but were going on holiday, so felt we should😁
I have two raw fed dogs and a wonderful butcher who delivers. When he delivers is anyones guess, so i regularly leave a considerable sum of money in the shed. He knows where it is and decants dog food directly into my freezer before picking up dosh.
My postman quite happily makes himself a pot of tea (our house is a half way point) whether we are in or not.
It is just the way we live. But hard for anyone wno does not live rurally to understand.
We have hens. If we are not here, it is not unknown for locals to collect eggs directly, so to speak, and leave an iou (usually collected in kind).

If it helps at all, delivery people/unknown callers here deliver to porch. Everyone known to us knows where to look. Deliveries and unknowns need to use the front door/porch. I doubt they could be arsed to wander around loking for potential booty.

I have been burgled once. We lived in a city, God, 40 years ago (forgot how fecking old i am) and were burgled. Every door was locked, every window secured.

We have lived in the middle of no where for many years and never had a problem, despite never locking a door. Dont let it spoil it for you OP, just adjust the way you operate. Regular callers you can trust get access and knowledge that occasional callers dont.

With shit weather, no gritting, few amenities and a five mile hike to the nearest pub, there have to be some benefits to living rurally😂