A London courier business that specialises in wine deliveries is preparing to expand to other cities.

Packfleet, launched 18 months ago, says it is already working with more than 30 wine firms in the capital, including Davys and Peckham Cellars.

The company regards all its parcels as fragile and promises compensation for clients if bottles are ever broken.

All 50 vehicles are electric and clients can pay an extra charge on top of the standard £4.20 delivery fee for a case of wine to have packaging returned after the drop at the customer’s address. Founder Tristan Thomas says the company also plants a tree for every delivery it carries out.

“I actually started a wine subscription business back in 2020,” he says.

“We ended up shipping with couriers all across the UK. We discovered how painful that is, with broken bottles turning up on people’s doorsteps.

“We worked our way through four or five different couriers, and four or five different packaging set-ups.”

Packfleet has been through two rounds of venture capital funding, raising £9m in the process. “So that sets us up well for the next couple of years,” Thomas says.

“Next year, we’ll take exactly the same model and start doing this in other cities. We’ll move through the top five or 10 UK cities by population. And then we’ll also be able to link up cities.”