Jeremy Vine has shared footage of a person making off with the presenter’s Christmas presents last week in a brazen daylight cycle-by.
The BBC Radio 2 host had combed through security footage outside his home after he was targeted on Christmas Eve following a DHL delivery.
Seemingly not in when the driver attempted to deliver his package on the 24th, a box was placed in the designated ‘safe space’ selected by Jeremy, before, just half an hour later, a man pounced on the box before making off with the contents.
Jeremy posted an earlier clip to his Twitter, writing: ‘I got hit by a Porch Pirate a couple of days ago. At 1125 the @dhlexpressuk guy leaves a delivery in an agreed place; at 1207 the Pirate appears. Is he following the van around? He knew exactly where to go. Parcel stolen, box found ripped open 100yds away by kind neighbour.’
After reviewing further security footage taken at a different angle, overlooking his front door, the presenter discovered just how the apparent thief knew where to look after the delivery person left.
He wrote: ‘I’ve now worked out EXACTLY how the ‘Porch Pirate’ struck my family in Christmas week … and okay, lesson learned, that’s the last time I nominate a large open box as my safe place. Take a look.’
In the clip shared to his social media, the delivery person can be seen attempting to load off the parcel, before contemplating knocking on the neighbour’s door, before dropping it in the safe spot chosen by Jeremy if the family wasn’t in.
A person, wearing a black beanie and blue face mask, can be seen walking in front of the home as the delivery is attempted, before returning half an hour later on a bike and heading straight to the grey box and retrieving Jeremy’s parcel.
While Jeremy insisted the DHL driver had ‘done nothing wrong’ as he’d left a note for the parcel to be placed in the box he wished he’d placed ‘a small smoke bomb’ in the box to deter would-be thieves from trying to nick the parcel.
Perhaps most shocking of all, the ‘thief’ knocked on Jeremy’s front door in apparent attempt to look like the delivery man.
Revealing what he was waiting on to be delivered, Jeremy wrote on the clip: ‘Hope you enjoyed our presents mate.’
The presenter’s followers were up in arms at seeing the footage, with many sharing their own experiences with so called ‘porch pirates’ while others revealed their ingenious purchases to keep deliveries safe and sound away from sticky fingers.
While the Met Police reached out in the comments, one shocked follower wrote: ‘I can’t believe what I’m watching! The absolute cheek of it! And to knock on your door and pose as the delivery guy.’
Sharing some hot tips alongside many others, another chimed in: ‘That’s pretty awful. Hope replacing the goods wasn’t too expensive.
‘My suggestion would be, if possible, to have an open combination lock on the box and ask the delivery person to rotate the tumblers so that the box is securely locked.’
Metro.co.uk contacted Jeremy’s reps for further comment.
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