A dad has been left fuming after a delivery driver "stole" a football from his eight-year-old son.
CCTV captured the moment the DPD worker took the ball after youngsters kicked it over a garden wall in Torpoint, Cornwall, on October 28.
Dad Stuart Martin was left fuming when he saw the footage and demanded the driver be disciplined.
DPD later apologised and the driver returned the football to Stuart, telling him he “didn’t see or hear” the children.
In the CCTV footage, the driver can be seen waiting at a junction while two children ask for their football back.
The driver then reverses back down the road only to pick up the ball and drive off.
Stuart says he initially didn’t believe his son when he reported that his ball had been stolen.
He told CornwallLive : "To be honest I was a bit bemused. It's not that he [his son] tells lies you just don't think that would happen the way that he said it had.
"I suppose to begin with I treated it with some disregard but then I looked through my camera footage with him and he pointed him out.”
Discussing the CCTV footage, he said: "As you can see from the video he reverses and has stolen the ball.
"It looks like he waits a few moments, maybe thinks about helping these kids but instead of just throwing it over the wall he steals it.
“He's not done it as a laugh either. I thought maybe he would drive halfway up the street and throw the ball back but that's not even happened either.”
Stuart says he was left feeling “angry” and “frustrated”, not because of the ball’s value but because his son and his friend, six, witnessed a grown adult steal from them.
"It's obviously not the value of the ball,” said Stuart.
“It's the fact my son is there with his friend and they're watching an adult, who is delivering a service to us, steal from us. It is a really bizarre situation.
"And this is where my frustration and anger came out to be honest. It's a grown man stealing from some kids when they're asking for their ball back. It's just not on."
Stuart added: "DPD should be looking into this for a start and I hope they get hold of me. They should discipline him, no one should be stealing off kids, especially when they're watching you. You can't be doing that."
A spokesperson for DPD confirmed the company had investigated the incident and said the driver would receive retraining.
In a statement, DPD said: “We have investigated this and while it isn’t particularly clear why the driver didn’t realise the ball belonged to the children his behaviour here certainly falls short of the very high standards we set for our people on the road.
“As a result, he will receive retraining. We will return the ball to the family immediately with our sincere apologies and a gesture of goodwill.”
Stuart later contacted PlymouthLive to reveal that the driver had returned the football, along with a bag of sweets. He told Stuart that he “didn’t see or hear” his children.
