Courier Driver Found Dead After Working Seven Days A Week For 14 Hours Before Black Friday

A DPD courier was found dead behind the driving wheels ahead of the November 25 holiday. Warren Norton was working seven days a week up to 14 hours a day delivering parcels before Black Friday.

The 49-year-old was trying to get as many of his orders out and was found slumped on the wheel by his colleagues one morning.

Norton was found dead in his Citroën van in the morning at Dartford’s DPD depot in Kent. A source shared with The Sun, “Warren has been working all the hours under the sun recently to deliver as many parcels as he could.”

“The managers try to coax you into working more days and longer hours because they know we’re self-employed. The warehouse floor must be cleared of parcels at all costs.”

Those who initially saw him thought he was taking some time resting and napping. They only noticed something wrong when they tapped on the window and he didn’t respond.

They smashed the window, opened the door, and brought him out of the van. Attempts were made to resuscitate him with CPR and a defibrillator. But the man was pronounced dead on the warehouse floor.

The self-employed man left behind a 14-year-old daughter. He’s just one among many who often start working from 6 am delivering parcels, often up to late in the day.

A DPD spokesman shared, “Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this moment.”

Norton was just one among tens of thousands of delivery drivers who were sending hundreds of parcels before Black Friday for DPD. Issues of overworked drivers who are often pressured to fulfill their quota have been for years and were particularly severe during the early lockdown.

One student who applied to drive for Amazon was quoted by Vice, “It’s a very punishing culture. It’s not like ‘let’s help you improve.’ I have termination conversations every day.”

Author Daniel Flaming added, “Amazon tends to treat its workers as a contingent commodity, and having a contracted delivery workforce makes that even easier. It would be difficult for Amazon to sever its relationship with direct employees of Amazon. But the current set up enables Amazon to work with one delivery service partner one day and not the next day and to move from place to place and to expand rapidly.”