A "real Father Christmas" saved the day for families after a driver for Amazon “dumped” their parcels in a bush.

When he saw what had happened, the mystery man collected all the packages and hand delivered them to homes around Hangleton in Hove.

The parcels were discovered in Amberley Drive, Hangleton, at around 9pm on Tuesday. The kind-hearted "Santa" had delivered them all by the next morning.

One Hangleton resident told The Argus: “It is terrible to have a driver do this. Someone has been a real Father Christmas and delivered them door to door.

"At least the parcels were not stolen.

The Argus: Parcels left on the floor in Amberley Drive, HangletonParcels left on the floor in Amberley Drive, Hangleton (Image: Guntra Skabarniece)

“I imagine the driver did not want to get off late. They were probably part-time staff over Christmas.

“The worry now is how many of these parcels are not being delivered? We all have deliveries to get at the moment.”

Hangleton resident Anna Hall said her husband received a knock on the door from “a very kind man” on Wednesday morning.

She said: “This man found several Amazon parcels dumped in a bush which included ours and our neighbour’s, among others.

“This kind man took them in overnight and has hand delivered them this morning.”

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Long-serving former city councillor Dawn Barnett, who lives in Hangleton, said: “I am disgusted, I do not know if they overload the workers.

“They need people they can trust to deliver the parcels. It could have ruined everyone’s Christmas.

"It is very kind of this man to deliver the parcels. I love the people of Hangleton, they are so hard working.”

Most of the addresses on the dumped parcels were for Amberley Drive, but some included nearby Burwash Road.

Dozens of people have thanked the kind-hearted mystery man for his nice gesture.

Vicky McAuliffe said: “I’m sure his name is Santa Claus.”

Laura-Jane Battersby said: “Thank you so much to the man who found them and hand delivered. Very kind of you.”

Amazon said that it works with independent delivery companies for orders and does not employ its own drivers. 

An Amazon spokeswoman said: “We have very high standards for the delivery service providers we work with and how they serve customers. We are investigating the incident.

"We partner with our Delivery Service Partners (DSPs) to set realistic expectations that do not place undue pressure on them or the drivers they engage while still fulfilling customer expectations. We also take feedback from our DSPs and their drivers seriously, which is why we’ve made continuous improvements to our programme and technology.

"We use sophisticated technology that there are adequate time for breaks and the vast majority of drivers finish earlier than planned.

"Additionally, while the technology designs routes to be completed within a specific time period, it also takes into consideration things like package volume and address complexity which ensures we can optimise for driver safety and delivery efficiency.”