Parcel Delayed, Missing or Damaged? What to Do Next

A parcel that has gone quiet is stressful, particularly if you are a seller with a customer waiting. The good news: genuinely lost parcels are rare. The overwhelming majority of "missing" parcels are either still moving normally or sitting somewhere near the delivery address.

Work through this in order. It is roughly the sequence our own support team follows.

Step 1: Decide whether it is actually late

Check the service that was booked against the working-day calendar, not the calendar on the wall.

Remember that weekends and bank holidays are not working days, and that the Highlands and islands, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands typically add one to two days regardless of service. See our next day delivery guide for how the timings are built.

Step 2: Read the tracking properly

Open the tracking page and look at the last scan rather than the overall status.

• In Transit, scanned in the last 48 hours — moving normally. No action needed.
• Out for Delivery — on a van today. If it does not arrive, it almost always goes out again the next working day automatically.
• Delivered — go to step 3.
• Pending or held — something needs resolving, usually an address problem. Contact us.
• Returned — heading back to the sender. The sender needs to rebook.
• No scan for two full working days — time to call us.

Gaps of a day are normal: tracking updates on physical scans, so overnight trunk runs and weekends produce silence that means nothing. Our tracking guide explains each status in full.

Step 3: "Delivered" but nothing there

This is the most common scenario of all, and it is usually solved in ten minutes. Every Fleet Express delivery is photographed, so start with the evidence:

1. Look at the delivery photo on your tracking page. It shows where the parcel was left, and often that is somewhere you have not checked.
2. Check the obvious hiding places — porch, doorstep, behind plant pots, bin store, shed, garage, greenhouse, over a side gate.
3. Ask household members — someone has often brought it in already.
4. Ask immediate neighbours, including the numerically transposed one (16 instead of 61).
5. Check with a building reception, concierge or post room if you are in a flat or an office.
6. Look for a card or a text giving a safe-place location.

If the photo clearly shows a property that is not yours, that is a misdelivery. Call us on 0800 079 3859 with the tracking number straight away — the driver's route data usually lets us recover it the same day, and the sooner we look the better.

Step 4: Get in touch

When you contact us, having these to hand turns a long call into a short one:

• The tracking number (FL1234567890GB)
• The full delivery address including postcode
• The sender's details, if you are the recipient
• A description of the parcel — size, colour, packaging
• What the tracking currently says and the date of the last scan

Call 0800 079 3859 (Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 9am–1pm) for anything urgent — our UK team can see depot-level detail that is not on the public page, including which vehicle a parcel is loaded on. For non-urgent enquiries, send us a message and we reply within two hours during business hours.

Step 5: When a parcel is declared lost

We treat a parcel as lost after 10 working days past its expected delivery date with no delivery scan (20 working days internationally). You do not have to wait that long to raise it — earlier reports mean fresher trails.

Claims are made by the sender, because the sender holds the contract. To support a claim you will need:

• The tracking number and booking reference
• Proof of value — a purchase invoice, receipt, or your cost of manufacture. Not the retail price you hoped to achieve.
• Proof of postage or the drop-off receipt
• A description of the contents and packaging

Standard cover is £100 per parcel, included. If the contents were worth more, that had to be declared at booking — cover cannot be added retrospectively. Insurance pays the value of the goods; it does not cover sentimental value, lost profit, or consequential losses, and prohibited items are excluded entirely.

Damaged parcels: photograph first, unpack second

Evidence decides damage claims, and most of it is destroyed in the first thirty seconds of opening a box. Before you unpack:

1. Photograph the sealed parcel from several angles, showing the damage and the label.
2. Photograph the packaging as you open it — void fill, inner boxes, everything.
3. Photograph the damaged item on its own.
4. Keep all the packaging. Claims are frequently refused because the packaging was binned and adequacy cannot be assessed.
5. Report it within 48 hours of delivery.

If damage is obvious at the door, note it when signing. Under-packing is the most common reason a damage claim fails, so it is worth knowing what adequate looks like — our packaging guide covers the standard we would defend.

How to avoid this next time

Most delivery failures trace back to the label. If you send parcels regularly:

• Include a mobile number and email for the recipient — this alone prevents a large share of failed deliveries.
• Include flat, unit or company name. "Flat 4" missing from a block of 40 is a failed delivery waiting to happen.
• Put a duplicate address slip inside the box, so a destroyed label does not orphan the parcel.
• Suggest a safe place at booking if the recipient is out during the day.
• Declare accurate weight and dimensions so the parcel is not pulled for re-grading — see volumetric weight.
• Declare real value above £100 at booking.

Frequently asked questions

The questions we get most on missing parcels are below, with more on the FAQ page.

We would rather hear from you early

If something does not look right, do not wait for a deadline to pass. Check your tracking page first, then call 0800 079 3859 or message us. A parcel we start looking for today is far easier to find than one reported in a fortnight.