A Hermes delivery driver accidentally set a three-year-old boy's Christmas presents on fire by placing them in a bin filled with hot ash.
Courtney Ball was going to give these gifts to her son, Logan, but now she is worried that that he will be left without any gifts under the tree.
According to Lincolnshire Live , the parcel contained more than £75 worth of goods, including a Lacoste tracksuit and pair of shoes.
It was delivered at around 11am on December 19 but no-one was in when Hermes knocked.
Instead, Hermes left the parcel in a 'safe place', which turned out to be a bin filled with hot ash.
Ms Ball came home at 2.30pm to discover the parcels burned and completely destroyed.
She said: "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 saw it smoking when we came 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 have been in contact with Ms Ball and say incidents like this are "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.
"Our successful delivery rate is 99%. However, we recognise that these incidents are absolutely unacceptable.
"When we are made aware we always take immediate action including retraining.
"We would also urge people to make sure they are available to receive deliveries they have ordered or make alternative arrangements either through our app or via the retailer."
Hermes said Ms Ball will be fully refunded for the gift and given an extra £50 for the inconvenience.
