Rob Taylor ordered fast food for himself, his partner, and three daughters aged eleven, nine, and five using the Just Eat delivery app. He did not hear the driver knock at the door or receive any phone calls, though he admitted there may have been an attempt to ring. Rob Taylor realized something was wrong when he spotted the driver leaving his garden. The driver returned to the bin, took the food out, and handed it to Rob Taylor on his doorstep. Rob Taylor and his family decided not to eat the food after it was retrieved from the bin, and he noticed missed calls but did not believe this justified the driver's actions.
A Just Eat spokesperson said the courier had been outside the property for over 20 minutes. The spokesperson said the driver called the customer seven times and sent a message via the app but did not receive a reply. Orders can only be marked as delivered once a customer provides a code, which they said had been given in this case. Couriers are advised to leave orders in a 'safe place' if they cannot be delivered, and the spokesperson suggested there may have been confusion with guidance from other platforms.
I looked out the window and said, 'That’s my order', and he said, 'I’ve put it in the bin'.
Rob Taylor went to McDonald's to get more food for his family after the incident. It remains unclear why the driver placed the order in the bin instead of leaving it on the doorstep or taking it back, and whether the driver followed Just Eat's official protocols for undeliverable orders.
I was just stood there thinking, 'Did that really just happen?'. I was gobsmacked. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Once you put something like that in a bin, it’s not fit for human consumption.
I took it into the house and explained what had happened, but we all agreed we couldn’t eat it. I couldn’t feed that to my children. There was no way.
I ended up having to go out again and get more food. I drove to McDonald’s and got them a Happy Meal each. If I was a delivery driver, I’d either leave it on the doorstep or take it back. I’d never put someone’s food in a bin.