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Heartless thieves stole a Hermes delivery van packed with almost 100 Christmas parcels while the driver was on her rounds.
It happened as driver Juliette Henry delivered a packagein Birch Croft Road in Sutton Coldfield just before 2pm on Monday, December 13.
Juliette, who has been delivering for Hermes for seven years, believes she was followed and targeted in a planned theft.
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She is known as ‘postie’ and drives an old red Royal Mail van, a Vauxhall Combo, registration number WV09 SYH, which she had bought.
The delivery driver, from Erdington, said: “While I was delivering the second parcel in Birch Croft Road I heard the central locking on my van go.
“I walked towards it quickly and I saw the guys drive off. First I saw the van and then I saw a white car driving behind.
“I was in shock. I was looking for my keys and ran up the road to try to block them off.
“I think the keys had dropped out of my pocket.
“It was the middle of my day and I had delivered 94 parcels but had 98 left.”
Juliette fears she had been targeted.
She said: “Last Thursday I was in Whitehouse Common Road in the slip road off the main road and I remembered I delivered a parcel and saw a car pull up right behind me.
“It was a 57-plate black estate, which was kind of dirty. I am wondering if that guy has taken a photo of me.
“I think they must have followed me.”
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Juliette was also worried she had made herself a target by wearing a Hermes logoed high vis jacket, which she put on as there are ‘a lot of older people in the area and I wanted to let them know who I was’.
She continued: “The white car was so quiet. I don’t know if it was an electric car.
“I never heard their door close. When I went to do the delivery there was no-one on the road.
“Then all of a sudden I heard the central locking with the five locks.”
The 54-year-old said her bosses had been ‘brilliant’. “They know how frightening it was,” she said.
Juliette has been using her Ford Ka to make deliveries since the theft but has to return home more often to pick up more parcels.
She said: “My van was an old Post Office van. It was mine. It’s a distinctive van.
“All my customers they know me. I’m the ‘red van lady’ and they used to call me ‘the postie’.
“I have been delivering for Hermes for seven years and I have never had something like this happen before.
“I have been doing this area for six years. From Whitehouse Common to Withy Farm, to the Harvester [at Bassetts Pole], London Road and Tamworth Road and Good Hope Hospital.
“At the same time I feel I highlighted myself because I wore my Hermes high vis.
“You think you’re doing all the right things to protect others but did it identify myself?”
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Juliette added: “I am just glad they didn’t approach me. Other drivers have been approached with knives.
“The people that targeted me are an absolute disgrace.
“Why they wanted to do that to people, not just me but people expecting their parcels.”
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “We were called after a delivery van was stolen from Birch Croft Road, Sutton Coldfield, at around 1.50pm on Monday, December 13.
“The driver reported dropping the keys by the van after making a delivery. These were then picked up by a man who opened the locked vehicle and made off in it.
“We’d ask anyone with information to contact us via Live Chat on our website or by calling 101. Quote 20/1871205/21.”
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