A Hermes driver set a three-year-old boy’s Christmas present on fire after storing the parcel in a bin filled with hot ash - setting the item alight.
The parcel contained a Lacoste tracksuit and shoes worth £75 meant for toddler Logan Ball, who has now been left without any festive gifts.
Outraged mum Courtney, 20, says she first spotted plumes of smoke pouring out from the bin and flames coming off the parcel.
Now, the single mum worries she won’t be able to give her son a present.
The parcel was delivered at around 11am yesterday, however, when she returned home at 2.30pm she made the shocking discovery.
Ms Ball told Lincolnshire Live : "I am a single parent. I have saved money that I could have used to get us by to give my child a good Christmas and now I am no longer able to give that to my child.
"I am now £75 out of pocket. And my child is no longer able to have his Christmas presents.
"The ash bin is round the side of the house and we have seen it smoking when we've come back to the house.
"We checked the grey bin first and then I realised they'd obviously put it in the ash bin.
"I looked in and there were flames coming off the package. I don't know why anyone would think that was a good place to leave it."
Hermes say they are now in touch with Ms Ball to discuss redelivery of the package and have called incidents such as these "extremely rare".
A Hermes spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise to Ms Ball for the inconvenience caused and are in contact with her to discuss her redelivery options and to provide a £50 gesture of goodwill.
"We have around 20,000 couriers delivering for us during the busy seasonal period and these kind of incidents are extremely rare.”
The courier company said that it takes immediate action against drivers who make such errors, including retraining.
Ms Ball will be fully refunded for the gift and given £50 extra.
