DPD and Deliveroo improve working conditions after driver death

Delivery firm DPD has said it will guarantee its self-employed couriers a minimum wage of £8.75 an hour. The promise comes months after the death of a driver who couldn’t go to hospital because of his job.

Don Lane died of diabetes in January after missing appointments with specialists because he did not want to face DPD’s £150 daily penalties if he could not find someone to cover his shift. He had been fined before for attending an appointment related to his illness and had once entered a diabetic coma whilst in his delivery van.

“He was putting the company before his own health,” said his widow, Ruth Lane. “He wasn’t able to do his parcels first and make the hospital appointments, so he would cancel on the day. 

 “There was a constant threat of a fine.”