28 December 2023 , 13:53
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It was still dark outside when the first person in the UK returned an 'unwanted' present on Christmas morning.
While there's much excitement in opening gifts on Christmas Day, some of us can end up with items that we don't want or need - and so they get sneakily returned or regifted. This year, a resident in Hull became the first person in the country to return a parcel at 2.57am on December 25 - before daylight even broke.
As many families across the nation opened their stockings and popped bottles of Bucks Fizz on Monday, somebody had already snuck out to a Collect+ store and sent back a package. But they weren't alone - they were one of a whopping 1,347 people who sent back a parcel on Christmas Day through Collect+.
According to new data from PayPoint, the first parcel was returned before 3am on Monday, and the second was made nearly four hours later at 6.43am in Merseyside. Then at 7.28am, a Londoner took back their package too. By 9am, when the sun had fully risen, five Brits had taken a visit to a Collect+ station. The most returns on Christmas Day took place in London, where 231 parcels were sent back to retailers.
Nick Williams, director of Parcel Services at PayPoint, said: "In the run up to Christmas, people are always looking for a convenient way to collect online orders to make their present shopping experience quick and easy! While it seems some choices were not quite right this year with 1,666 parcels being returned on Christmas Day itself, we are proud of the service our retail partners provide to their local communities, being there at a time when most other stores and Post Offices are closed."
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In 2019, the first person in the UK to return a potentially unwanted Christmas gift did so at 7.02am in Salisbury town. It was another 38 minutes before the next parcel was returned in Glasgow, at 7.40am. In total, 419 parcels were returned on Christmas Day that year through the Collect+ service at local convenience stores across the UK. Some customers returned more than one potentially unwanted present.
Have you returned a Christmas present already? Let us know in the comments.