Take Away Delivery Wrong Address

barry1010 | 23:26 Sun 24th Dec 2023 | Law

17 Answers

Midnight last night somebody rang my bell with a takeaway order.

What would have happened if I had accepted the delivery and eaten it?

It certainly wasn't meant for us

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ToraToraTora

Were there a couple of other guys with him with other things?

Jarg

What takeaway was it?

Too many variables in what could have happened.

jno

if they just give it to you without asking if you are the Mr X who ordered it, and you take it assuming someone else in the household placed the order, then I can't see any cause for complaint. The people who really ordered it will be asking about their unfulfilled contract but that isn't your problem.

TheWinner

Why would you answer your door at midnight, if you aren't expecting a call? A bit strange barry1010.

Canary42

If you open mail delivered in error then I believe it is an offence.

I don't know about takeaways, but assuming the real buyer paid online/onphone then technically it's theft surely if you accept it. If cash on delivery then you're probably OK if you pay up 😁.

Buenchico

The Theft Act 1968 states: "A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it"

and "Any assumption by a person of the rights of an owner amounts to an appropriation, and this includes, where he has come by the property (innocently or not) without stealing it, any later assumption of a right to it by keeping or dealing with it as owner".

Further, if the delivery person had asked "Did you order a takeaway?" or "Are you Agnes Winterbottom?", and you falsely answered 'Yes', then the Fraud Act 2006 would have come into play, as it states: "A person is in breach of this section if he dishonestly makes a false representation, and intends, by making the representation to make a gain for himself or another".

So there are at least two criminal offence which you could have been charged with if you'd have accepted the food.

Buenchico

With regard to Canary42's reference to opening mail, the Postal Services Act 2000 states: "A person commits an offence if, intending to act to a person’s detriment and without reasonable excuse, he opens a postal packet which he knows or reasonably suspects has been incorrectly delivered to him".

It's worth noting that, for any prosecution to succeed under that Act, it would be necessary to show that the person opening the mail was intending that his/her action should be to the detriment of another. Idle curiosity wouldn't necessarily meet that legal threshold.

Further, opening mail to find (and then use) a return address would be likely to qualify as 'reasonable excuse' for doing so.

THECORBYLOON

CHRIS, could it not be argued that a person should do no more than write, "return to sender" post it and let Royal Mail sort it out, rather than open the letter?

Buenchico

TCL:
Even if opening the mail to find a return address (as I've done myself several times) wasn't accepted as being 'reasonable excuse', it still wouldn't be 'intentionally to the detriment' of any other person. So it wouldn't be an offence.

Canary42

On the royal mail issue, a further possibility arises if the premises are sole-occupied so the resident naturally assumes all mail is for them and therefore doesn't even look at the envelope before opening it - I know because I did it once. I stuck a note in it "opened in error", sealed it up and returned to sender. I do now check before opening.