A pile of parcels and packages have been dumped near a woodland just weeks before Christmas.

Dozens of deliveries were left discarded on the green space near Crusaders Way in Valley Park, Chandler's Ford.

The parcels were due to be delivered by Evri, which has since confirmed a new courier will now be serving that area. An internal investigation is now underway.

Katie Brannigan spotted the parcels while out walking. The 33-year-old said she saw a “big pile of parcels” in the distance.

The dumped parcelsThe dumped parcels (Image: Katie Brannigan) Katie, from Chandler’s Ford, said: “I saw a council worker stood by the parcels, and he told me someone had reported it to them.

“When I saw the pile, I just thought ‘this is a lot of Christmas presents’.

“There were even parcels chucked over the fence and into the woodland area.

“To me, it looked like someone had stopped and dumped them all.

“Hopefully all the parcels will now be delivered to people.”

She added: “I can’t believe they were dumped there. Why would someone do that?

“I feel sorry for all the people without their parcels.”

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The post was collected by staff at Test Valley Borough Council on Tuesday and then returned to the Evri depot in Nursling.

A spokesperson said: “We received a report from a member of the public about the parcels dumped in Valley Park.

“We’ve advised customers to contact the delivery company directly if they have any questions.

“Evri have told us they are conducting an internal investigation into this incident and will pass on any relevant information to the council.”

Following the incident, Evri said it takes issues like this "incredibly seriously" and have dismissed the driver.

A spokesperson for the company added that its couriers have a high success rate of on-time deliveries across the country.

They said: “Every parcel matters to us and our teams are delivering up to four million parcels a day with 99 per cent successfully delivered on time.

“We will deliver the retrieved parcels this week and we are sorry to anyone impacted.

“A different courier will now be delivering in the area.”