A Deliveroo rider bit off a customer's thumb after a brief argument over a pizza ordered through the app.
Jenniffer Rocha, 35, attacked Stephen Jenkinson, 36, during what should have been a routine takeaway delivery in December 2022. Stephen was attacked near his home in Aldershot, Hampshire, by delivery driver Rocha.
The 35-year-old had been working as a "substitute" rider and using someone else's account, which a judge at Winchester Crown Court has described as a "serious offence" and may land Rocha behind bars.
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Deliveroo has since ended the rider's account after the "awful incident", but not before Rocha ripped through Stephen's thumb "like a chainsaw", leaving him with an amputated digit and out of work, BBC reported.
Stephen, who was left with his thumb severed from the knuckle, said: "All I remember, I was shaking her helmet trying to get her off. The force with which she must have been biting, she'd clean taken it off." He added it felt like it had "gone through a chainsaw".
Rocha, who will be sentenced on May 3, had argued with Stephen after arriving at the wrong location. Stephen had forgotten his phone and an argument over the delivery code number he had to provide began.
Stephen added: "Financially, I'm ruined. I'm unemployed. I'm in a massive amount of debt and I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel." He added the relationship with his girlfriend, the mother of his newborn daughter, had broken down after the incident.
He added: "I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I want to use this story to help others, to say 'this has to change'." Mr Jenkinson's lawyer, Alex Barley from Slater Heelis said: "Companies operating in the gig economy should be held to account for the actions of the people they rely on for their significant profits."
Deliveroo released their own statement and confirmed their riders were self-employed, adding: "Substitution is and always has been a common feature of self employment, it is not specific to Deliveroo, nor our sector."
A Deliveroo spokesperson added: "This was an awful incident. We ended the account of the rider concerned immediately and have fully cooperated with the police on the investigation."
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