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Amazon customer held drivers ‘hostage’ after missing £400 mattress delivery by 10 minutes

Dean Smith with his mattress after the stand off [SWNS]
Dean Smith with his mattress after the stand off [SWNS]

A man took two delivery drivers hostage by stealing their keys after he missed his Amazon delivery slot.

Dean Smith, 44, was very keen to get hold of the £400 mattress his partner had ordered from the online retailer, and was annoyed to see the van driving away as he got home from work minutes after his 10am delivery.

Rather than accept the fact that he’d have to wait until the next day, he hopped in his car and chased the two delivery staff down.

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When the driver pulled over to make a phonecall, Smith managed to speak to them and the two staff confirmed that they had his mattress – but they couldn’t just hand it over to him because it had been logged as a missed delivery and had to be returned to the depot in Taunton and redelivered the next day.

Incensed to see his mattress so near and yet so far, Smith lunged for the keys as the Panther Group driver showed him that it was in the van.

Police were called to mediate when Smith would not return the drivers’ keys unless they gave him his mattress.

The delivery van behind Dean Smith's trailer during the stand off [SWNS]
The delivery van behind Dean Smith’s trailer during the stand off [SWNS]

After around half an hour and a couple of arrest threats, the police gave up and told the delivery staff to just give Dean his mattress, in what he is claiming as a victory against a “giant like Amazon” and a fight “for the common people”.

Businessman Smith said, “I’m a man of common sense and I was not prepared to let this mattress be driven away.

“Even if they took it out of the van and left it at the side of the moor, I would have been happy. This is bureaucracy gone mad.

“They wanted to drive the mattress back to Taunton and then back to my house tomorrow. I worked in transport deliveries for seven years and this is just insane.”

Dean Smith's mattress on his trailer [SWNS]
Dean Smith’s mattress on his trailer [SWNS]

He added: “I had a bit of an argy-bargy with the police officer.

“She wanted me to give up the keys. She said she was going to arrest me if I didn’t but I was prepared to go down fighting.

“I took them in lieu of my mattress. I was offering to give them back provided they gave me what’s mine.

“In the end, the police officer advised the drivers to give me the mattress. They were very nice about it all and even carried it onto my trailer for me!”