Yodel has suspended one of its couriers after publication of a YouTube video apparently showing one of its team throwing a parcel containing a Tower of London ceramic poppy over a fence.

The parcel carrier, which was appointed to deliver the ceramic poppies from the Tower of London display to consumers, said staff would face disciplinary action if found to have not treated the parcels with care.

In response to the YouTube video footage, executive chairman Dick Stead said Yodel had briefed its staff to act with special care when delivering the poppies, and the courier in question had been suspended.

“In the case of the YouTube footage showing a delivery driver throwing a poppy, we are immensely relieved to hear the poppy was undamaged but have taken the incident very seriously and have suspended the courier with immediate effect,” he said.

Responding to concerns about damage and packaging issues, Stead said that Yodel “is not a packaging company” and is responsible only for delivery.

He added: “We are very sorry to hear that a small number of poppies have arrived broken and there is a process in place to provide replacements where this occurs."

Stead said that the carrier had now delivered more than 126,000 of the 888,246 poppies to members of the public, of which 0.12% (roughly 150) had resulted in subsequent queries from recipients.

“We have promptly rectified and apologised for all of these,” he said.

Topics