Police investigate disappearance of Amazon parcels in South Downs village

The probe has been sparked after a fencing contractor in Upper Beeding discovered that empty Amazon parcels were being regularly dumped in his work trailer.

Sam Bartholomew said that he had been frequently finding Amazon packaging in the back of his trailer parked in Priory Field for the past month. “I thought at first that someone was just chucking away the boxes in my trailer,” he said.

Then he realised that people were not receiving their orders. “I’ve been going round everyone’s houses and dropping off their packages. They are empty, but it’s just to make them aware.

"I’ve had enough of it. I didn’t want people walking past thinking I had stolen their stuff.”

Sam, who runs SB Fencing Services in the village, also put a message on social media to inform people of what was happening. “I’ve now had loads of messages from people who are missing stuff asking me if I have got this or got that.”

He said he had been finding the empty parcels every week for the past month. One day before Christmas, he said, he had come home at 12 noon and went back to work again at around 2pm. “The trailer was full up with packaging again.”

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A spokesperson for Sussex Police confirmed that they had received a report on what was going on, adding: “We are investigating it.”

Meanwhile, further reports of empty Amazon parcels have been made elsewhere in the Upper Beeding and Steyning area.