To think this is really creepy and weird?

[DrierThanANunsNasty]

We have recently moved into a bungalow in a new area so don’t know the delivery people yet.

Was due a DPD parcel today and was putting my daughter down to sleep when he knocked.

I figured he would leave it on the front door step (we have a drive so it’s not out on the road), or by the back gate where the bins are. Plenty of covered spaces/area.

Instead, he has opened my new back gate by reaching over to unlock it as it was fully locked. Come into the garden, round to the whole other side of the bungalow where we have a utility room lean to that attaches to the kitchen. The door to this is broken/always open and he’s just placed it in the doorway there.

There are many, many other places he could’ve left it (it’s a very safe area) and I feel like it’s a complete invasion of privacy (especially as he could have just walked into my kitchen without me knowing).

I just feel so creeped out that he’s been walking around whilst I’m in my daughters bedroom.

Maybe I’m just overthinking and happy to be told I’m BU, but I’ve never had a delivery person unlock gates etc before!

Yeah you’re being unreasonable.

Would freak me out.

It might be that was the arrangement the previous owners had with this driver,but i would put a stop to it. Put it in your delivery notes, but I would also change the locking mechanism for the side gate

I think that's fine, actually. Much better than leaving it on the front doorstep where people can see it, as often happens here.

If someone can reach over and unlock a 'fully locked' gate (as in, with a key?), and you have a broken utility room door that is always open then I think you need to rethink your security, if it bothers you that someone was able to come into your garden and leave a package inside your house.

He just left it at the door though? Didn't try to come into the house?

It's pretty common OP - YABU I'm afraid, although I can see that if you've never had it before it might have thrown you slightly.

He was probably trying to avoid it being seen by passers-by. Have you got a preference set on your settings for where you want it?

He didn't come in, did he?
You are being unreasonable. Delivery drivers' conditions and pay are notoriously poor. If he didn't deliver it, he wouldn't get paid even though he had used the time and petrol ro come to your house.
If you're worried, buy a parcel box and put it somewhere delivery drivers can easily access.

Can you tell me why @DitzyDerbyBabe86? genuinely! I’ve never had this before so if it’s the done thing then fine, but normally if a gate is locked that means don’t enter right?!

Why do people leave their homes unlocked then seem outraged when people can get in?

lock the doors, get a lock on the gate that cannot be opened from the other side and be glad it was a delivery driver doing his job and not an actual creep

How did he unlock your gate without the key being left in the lock?
Or do you mean he opened your gate?
Either way I would be happy he left your parcel somewhere safe

Okay I can see I’m in the wrong here! Just never had it happen before. There’s various places he could’ve left it before he got to the door, that’s what I found so weird. And the lock is hard to reach so he’s climbed up to be able to reach it unless he’s about 7ft!

Lesson learnt :)

Not hard to figure out he may have had an arrangement to do this with the old owners if they had a lot of parcel deliveries.

Maybe just worthwhile having a word with him or her, although if it is that easy for people to get to places you don't want them in maybe also time for some new locks and bolts.

And no it is not really creepy and weird.

DPD ask for delivery instructions, what instructions did you give ?

Exactly - it's accessible, not a locked secure area. Good to have a think about what you want your security set-up to be.

Window-cleaners, gardeners, delivery people etc all come all the way around our house. Obviously if it was the middle of the night you'd be pretty sure it wasn't one of them.

Parcels aren't normally allowed to be left on view
.we lived in a nice quiet area, people had lived in 50 years plus. Had a little covered in porch,no door,DSs delivered mobile phone was stolen.

No, you're supposed to insist he's a predator, we're all wrong and flounce off. Don't you know the rules?

That would freak me out, a stranger coming in to your garden like that. But according to mumsnet a delivery driver can walk unannounced into your home like it’s no big deal.

My delivery instructions say to leave at the front. Like I said we have a driveway, so it’s not like it’s visible from the road.

To whoever said it’s likely an arrangement with the previous owner, that’s a fair point and I’ll see if I can somehow update the driver.

For those saying I don’t care about security - we are living in a renovation project and so yes my utility door is broken, but we also have cameras around so I’m hardly a free for all house ;)

I'd guess that's what the previous residents had set up for DPD to do with parcels. He's hasn't made his job more difficult than necessary for fun. Go on their website and amend the safe place for your address.

Our local Evri and DPD drivers open our front door and leaves our parcels in the porch so I'm probably not best to give an opinion (tbh I've been tempted to just give them a spare key at times😂). But yeah it was probably an arrangement he had with the previous owners.

I would just be glad he had the sense to bring it round out of view. We've had many couriers just leave parcels on our front doorstep for the whole day (and overnight if we're away!) for every man and his dog to swipe on their way past.

I would assume this was the previous owners preference/arrangement.

I've had parcels stolen from just outside my front door (also down a driveway and out of view from the road), and the company usually does replace them, with presumably a rap on the knuckles for the delivery drivers, so I expect they do have to be extra cautious.

Completely normal. It’s a safe out of the way place. Sounds exactly like where they always leave ours - by the door around the back near the utility room. Sometimes they open a barn and leave it in there. The post man actually opens the door and tosses it in. We keep that outer door unlocked for this reason and lock the inner door in the hall that actually goes into our house. Much better than them leaving it out in the rain or to get stolen.

Are you the same poster whose amazon delivery driver tried opening your front door?

It does sound a long winded way to leave your parcel (without having the benefit of a plan!)

When delivery drivers come to ours they just through everything on the front doorstep.