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It's a Doddle: Amazon inks train station parcel deal with Network Rail

Delivery service to let commuters collect fresh gumble on way home

Amazon has reportedly signed a deal with Network Rail’s Doddle to let Blighty customers pick up parcels from around 300 train stations across the country.

Doddle, a joint venture of Network Rail and Travelex millionaire Lloyd Dorfman, is planning to invest £24m to get click-and-collect points into hundreds of stations over the next three years. The company has already announced that retailers including New Look, Asos and TM Lewin have signed up to the service.

Chairman and co-founder Dorfman also told the Telegraph that a similar deal was almost finalised with online mega-etailer Amazon.

“They’re sorting out the systems issues and have agreed to begin using Doddle in September,” he said.

Amazon was already reported to be in talks with Transport for London to use some of the ticket offices the authority plans to close on the Tube lines as parcel pickup points late last year, although neither TfL nor Amazon would confirm it.

At the time, TfL would only say that it was working with Asda on a trial click-and-collect service at Underground station car parks and it was “looking to work with other retailers to offer similar services”.

It’s possible that Amazon isn’t bothered about delivering parcels to Tube stations any more if it can get them into London's mainline Network Rail hubs instead.

Doddle said it was trialling a pilot store in Milton Keynes station, but said the first shops to open would include Waterloo and Cannon Street stations in London, as well as Bromley South, Brighton and Chelmsford. The expansion to 300 stations will likely offer a fair amount of coverage for London, adding stations like Paddington, Liverpool Street and Blackfriars to the list. ®

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