Warren Norton: Courier, 46, dies after 14-hour shifts making 150 deliveries per day ahead of Black Friday
DARTFORD, KENT: A DPD courier was found dead in his van on Thursday, November 23, after working for seven days a week ahead of Black Friday. Warren Norton, 49, was trying to deliver as many parcels as possible before the November 25 holiday before he was found dead in his van. He was found slumped over the wheel of his Citroen van in DPD's bus depot in Dartford, Kent. As Black Friday packages piled up, the single father worked up to 14 hours a day.
A source told 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,” the source added.
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Initially, Warren's colleagues believed he was sleeping in his van due to exhaustion, but he didn't respond when they tapped the window to wake him up. As soon as other couriers saw that he wasn't moving, they smashed his window. When they opened the door, he fell out of the van onto the floor. They gave him CPR and used a defibrillator, but he was declared dead on the warehouse floor. Warren, who has a 14-year-old daughter, worked for DPD for about two years.
According to reports, he drove six or seven days a week, starting at 6 am and working up to 8 pm - earning about £120 ($145) per day. During busy periods, managers encouraged couriers to work more hours and harder, his colleagues said. They are self-employed and typically deliver more than 150 parcels a day. A DPD spokesman confirmed Warren’s death, adding, “Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this moment.”
MEAWW previously reported a similar incident where a 42-year-old UPS driver "worked to death" during the Christmas rush in 2019. Paul Crush, a father of two who worked as a driver for the company, is believed to have suffered a heart attack at the Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, depot. The incident occurred on December 18, 2019, after Crush allegedly delivered about 240 packages per day. While it's common for workers to have a heavy workload ahead of Christmas, Crush had been posting more than 200 for the six weeks prior to his death.