A family claim they were left disgusted when their takeaway arrived 'half-eaten' - only for their CCTV to appear to catch the Just Eat driver 'tucking into their food' on their driveway. Stuart Knight ordered a Pizza Express meal to share with his girlfriend and their three children, which was delivered via Just Eat.
The 46-year-old says he noticed that the seal on the dough ball boxes appeared to be broken, before opening them to discover only four out of 16 and the side of garlic butter dipped into and half empty. Stuart claims CCTV footage shows the 'slob' female driver rifling through their order while sat on their driveway and apparently munching on a dozen dough balls dipped in garlic butter.
The photography business managing director has now shared the shocking clip to warn other delivery customers to check their takeaways before tucking in. After receiving an apology and refund for the missing food items from Just Eat, he is now calling for more to be done about 'cheeky' delivery drivers scoffing customers' food.
Just Eat said it is currently investigating the 'self-employed independent contractor' and if they she has acted in any way that does not uphold their standards then appropriate action will be taken. Stuart, from Farnham, Surrey, said: "The pizzas were fine but the boxes looked open for the dough balls.
"The kids opened it up and one of the girls goes 'I've only got three dough balls'. First of all I thought they might be trying to save money and just put a few in at a time so I checked online to see how many you're meant to get and the picture showed a lot more.
"We were left with four dough balls from two boxes and the butter was half eaten as well. There were still bits of bread in the butter so it was no accident. As soon as we saw the butter I said 'one of them has had it' so then I checked the CCTV and there she was sitting in the driveway eating it.
"I think there's meant to be about eight in each packet so she'd stuffed quite a few. You're not even meant to open the food and she was just sitting there going through it in our driveway." The dad ordered a margherita pizza, a margherita pizza with ham and two portions of dough balls to share with his girlfriend Toni Greenway, 37, and their children Chloe Greenway, 15, Molly Greenway, 13, and Daniel Knight, 13.
But the family claim they were left disappointed when the order, totalling £31.70, arrived with only four dough balls remaining out of two boxes that should have had eight per portion. Due to concerns about catching Covid through the delivery driver handling the food, they threw the remaining dough balls away and were left with only the pizzas, which were still in sealed boxes.
Stuart said: "We said 'do not touch anything' to the kids and my son had already taken his box up to his room so I told my daughter to run up and get it and take it away from him. "The pizzas were okay because we checked and they were still sealed and from what we could see on the camera it looked like she'd gone into the boxes of the dough balls.
"If there was a little box on there to say 'donate a box of dough balls to the driver' then I would've ticked that if they're that hungry and it wouldn't have been a problem to me but she stole it, that's the thing. "She didn't have very good customer service when she came to the door either, she looked like a bit of a slob."
After complaining to Just Eat, the dad received a refund for the two boxes of dough balls but says there was no mention of investigating the driver, who he feels should be sacked. He says he now checks every takeaway order thoroughly to ensure it hasn't been tampered with and encourages other Just Eat customers to do the same.
Stuart said: "I think it's too easy because we complained to Just Eat and all they did was just refund us for the two dough balls, so it's just too easy for them to get away with it.
"They should've got rid of that driver or at least disciplined her but they're more interested in just giving the money back.
"If she's still working for them then she's probably still doing that for her dinner every night.
"It makes you think twice about ordering from them really because you just don't know what you're going to get."
Just Eat said that the food was delivered by a self-employed independent contractor in this instance and if their investigation into the incident finds they acted in any way that does not uphold their standards then appropriate action will be taken.
The brand said they are in touch with the customer and have refunded the missing part of the order.
A Just Eat spokesman said: "At Just Eat, we want all of our customers to have a positive experience when ordering food online and expect all couriers delivering on our behalf to act respectfully and responsibly at all times.
"We are currently investigating the incident and are also in touch with the customer."
Pizza Express was contacted for comment.
