We asked the company about the case of the aggressive courier with a double driving ban. ORLEN S.A. Press Team:
In accordance with the standard applicable on the courier services market, couriers are employed by carriers, not directly by service operators. This means that carriers are responsible for verifying authorization to drive a vehicle. This verification covers not only practical skills but also formal matters, including confirmation that the person holds a valid driving licence.
The incident you are asking about took place during training, which includes test drives, discussion of procedures and the rules for delivering parcels to collection points. The training takes place under the supervision of another courier, ends with an examination and assignment to a specific route. In this case, this stage was supposed to end on 7 March this year, but it did not, because the employee did not attend the practical examination on that day. The police are currently handling the matter.
They added:
The situation constitutes a serious breach of the standards applicable at ORLEN Paczka, which is why the company asked the driver's employer for an urgent explanation. ORLEN Paczka representatives also checked the authorizations of all the other drivers employed by the carrier and confirmed that they hold valid documents authorizing them to drive a vehicle.
Additionally, ORLEN Paczka branch managers periodically check couriers' authorizations using a tool available on the gov.pl portal. In the case described, the driver had not officially started work, so the company had no opportunity to carry out such a verification.
Let us recall. The dangerous incident occurred on Thursday afternoon in central Bolesławiec. The driver of a van failed to yield to a passenger car. Bolesławiec KPP: – As a result, the passenger-car driver stopped several hundred metres farther on and reprimanded him for his inappropriate behaviour. The delivery-van driver then directed verbal aggression at the people travelling in the passenger car, including threatening the driver and deliberately hitting his vehicle with the door.
Seeing the entire situation and not wanting any further escalation of the van driver's behaviour, the injured parties drove away, but the courier set off after them. At one point, he cut them off, got out of the vehicle and, holding an object resembling a gun, moved towards them. He then fired a shot, which shattered the driver's-side window, and drove away.
Officers:
Immediate operational measures led to the vehicle being identified and a man suspected in the case being selected.
On Friday, detectives arrested the perpetrator in Legnica. Bolesławiec police: – Further findings led police officers to the place where the 35-year-old had discarded the air gun used during the crime.
The suspect is a resident of Legnica. He should not have been behind the wheel at all, as he had a double driving ban.
Police summarize:
The 35-year-old's behaviour was assessed as hooliganism. He was charged with three offences in total: acting publicly and for a trivial reason, intentionally damaging property, and exposing other people to a direct risk of loss of life or serious injury by firing a shot from an air gun. He also threatened to take a life and breached court-imposed bans by driving despite having his driving privileges revoked.
The prosecutor imposed a ban on contacting or approaching the injured parties.
The perpetrator faces up to 5 years in prison.
We reported more extensively on the case in the article Orlen Courier Fired a GUN at Another Driver in the City Centre.