FURIOUS customers have described scenes of chaos after a delivery firm failed to find their parcels in a depot two days before Christmas.

Dozens of people began queuing outside Yodel's base in Bellshill Industrial Estate from 10 am this morning - and were left waiting for hours without answers.

One customer Lucy D'Arcy arrived around 10 minutes after the depot opened and waited until 1 pm before returning home without her parcel.

The 40-year-old, from Giffnock, said it was absolute mayhem when she arrived and no one was being served.

She had to repeatedly ask for a manager before she got to see one.

She said: "There were almost 40 people in the queue. I had been there at that point two hours, five people had been served and three left with nothing.

"It seems they have lost most people's purchases."

A manager promised Lucy that he would call her back after they had rescanned everything in their warehouse.

She added: "It is a complete nightmare. You are faced with the prospect of your child on Christmas Day not getting the item that they have asked for and trying to explain why Santa wasn't able to come.

"Tensions were obviously running extremely high. The worst part was they refused to talk to us."

Stephen McDonald, 39, waited three hours to be shown a photograph of his item which was damaged.

Stephen, who travelled from Renfrew, said: "It was absolute bedlam, I think there will be a riot in there in the next 24 hours. It was getting really heated at some points.

"After people were waiting for hours, they were taking their number and saying they would call them back once they found the item."

He added: "They gave everyone a free bottle of wine as an apology.

"All I got for three hours wait was a bottle of wine."

A Yodel spokesman: “We are aware that a number of customers are looking to collect parcels at our Bellshill Depot.

"To ensure customers are able to collect their parcels as quickly and smoothly as possible, we kindly ask that they arrange a collection booking online using our website 24 hours in advance.”

This was originally reported in our sister title, The Glasgow Times.