Uber Eats Delivered Alcohol to a Dying Alcoholic Daily

When Glenn Perkins's family walked into his home after his death, they found it exactly as he had left it: cider bottles stacked around the room, Uber Eats bags piled up, and an order history showing deliveries beginning as early as 6am. He had spent thousands of pounds. He had not left the house in up to four months. He was 55 years old.

Glenn had spent 22 years as a firefighter in Medway, Kent. He was a father to two daughters. At some point during his career, he witnessed a traumatic incident that left him with PTSD. His daughters say that is where the drinking began, and that once delivery apps entered his life, the addiction accelerated in ways that became impossible to manage.

Orders From 6am, Every Day, Until He Was Hospitalised

In the final stretch of his life, Glenn's routine had narrowed to almost nothing. He stayed in his pyjamas. He did not shower for months at a time. He sat at home and placed orders on Uber Eats, starting first thing in the morning and continuing throughout the day. Each order would arrive, and within an hour, another would be placed. He was spending up to £60 a day on cider and other alcohol, funded through his early pension and Personal Independence Payments.

His daughters watched this happen and knew what it was leading to. The apps made it frictionless. There were no trips to a shop, no moments of friction, no need to face the outside world. The alcohol came to him, repeatedly, reliably, all day long.

His Daughter Asked Uber Eats to Block His Account. They Refused.

In 2022, Glenn's daughter Connie contacted Uber Eats directly and asked them to blacklist her father's account. She explained her concerns about his health. She was not asking for something complicated. She was asking the company to stop enabling a man she watched deteriorating in real time.

Uber Eats responded by telling her that under their privacy policy, they could only discuss account details with the account holder directly. They would not act on her request. The deliveries continued.

Glenn Perkins died on January 20 from aspiration pneumonia, having been hospitalised with alcoholic liver disease. He was 55.

What Uber Eats Says Now, and What Comes Next

Following Glenn's death and the public attention brought by his daughters, Uber Eats stated that its systems have evolved since 2022. The company says it now requires couriers to complete a mandatory online education module before they can deliver alcohol, and that every alcohol delivery requires the courier to verify the recipient's date of birth against physical ID and conduct a sobriety check before completing the order.

Whether those sobriety checks were ever applied consistently during Glenn's years of daily orders remains an open question. His daughters say they were not aware of any such intervention during the period when he was ordering from 6am every day.

Gillingham and Rainham MP Naushabah Khan has since met with the sisters and confirmed she will raise the issue directly with the Prime Minister in Parliament. The family's case is now part of a wider push to tighten the rules around how delivery apps handle alcohol sales to vulnerable users, and whether a family member's request to protect someone they love should carry any weight at all.