Mike Gibbons, who runs City of Hull Sport and Community Group and City of Hull Boxing Club, came to the rescue of residents including a grandma who was expecting an expensive present for her grandson
A community-minded Hull man stepped in to deliver valuable Christmas presents to neighbours following the theft of a parcel van that left packages on the pavement. Mike Gibbons and his wife came across five parcels marked with Evri stickers on the street where he lives, Westgarth Avenue.
Mystified as to why they were left there, the founder of the City of Hull Sport and Community Group and City of Hull Boxing Club, took it upon himself to go to the marked addresses. Residents of the addresses were grateful for his efforts, with one reporting the parcel contained an expensive gift for a grandchild.
Parcel firm Evri say the packages – which had been soaked in heavy rains brought by Storm Bram – were left on the street due to the theft of one of their vans. However, it remains unclear as to why some of the residents Mr Gibbons delivered to had been told via text messages that deliveries had been made the previous day.
Mr Gibbons said: “My thoughts were that these parcels belonged to people who had paid good money for them and if we didn’t do something about it, then someone perhaps not as honest as we are would have taken them for their own. We didn’t know at the time but there was a lot of high value stuff there which we only know because we drove to the five different addresses and two of them told us they were worth more than £100.
“One was a rolled up rug and another one one was a grandma who had bought a Christmas gift for her grandson. She said she’d spent more than £150.
“I thought to myself, well there’s £200-£300 in just two parcels and there were five parcels overall. Just how much have working families spent?”
Now, Humberside Police have confirmed a man was arrested and charged for a series of offences including theft of a motor vehicle linked to a crime number supplied to Evri. The force said: “A man has been charged after we were called to reports of a vehicle being stolen from First Lane in Anlaby at around 2.45pm on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
“Jack Morgan, 28 years-old, of Bethune Avenue in Hull was charged on Friday, December 5 for theft of a motor vehicle, driving without insurance, and driving without a licence. He was released on conditional bail to appear back at Hull Magistrates Court at a later date. A 49 year-old man was also arrested at the time and was released on conditional bail.”
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An Evri spokesperson said: “Every parcel matters to us, and we’re disappointed when a courier fails to care for a parcel as if it were their own. The vast majority of our 30,000 couriers are hardworking members of the local community and take pride in their work. A vehicle was stolen from a driver, leaving a small number of parcels on Westgarth Avenue. The incident was reported to the police. Our local team hoped to redeliver parcels, but a thoughtful member of the community had already ensured they were passed on.”