A new study from Direct Line has revealed that consumers in the UK missed out on £250 million in products which were ordered online but went missing before they reached their destination, according to the Mirror.

In the last half decade, an estimated 18 million people have had to put up with orders either failing to be delivered, ending up in the wrong location or getting lost at some point in the distribution system. And with each order worth around £68, this amounts to a significant cost over time.

Twenty two per cent of respondents to the study said that at least one of the orders they had placed online since 2011 had gone missing in the post, while five per cent said that this had occurred on five or more occasions.

Of all the packages which went missing, around 10 per cent were said to be worth more than £300, suggesting that some shoppers can be hit harder than others when delivery issues occur.

Nationally, it is thought that 12 million people have taken the decision to tell delivery firms not to leave packages with their neighbours if they are not in to receive it themselves. Of this group, 45 per cent said that they did not want to put their neighbours in a tough spot, while almost a third said that they either did not like their neighbour or did not trust them to take delivery of valuable goods.

Luckily, there are various laws designed to protect consumers in the event of a delivery failing to be fulfilled. And while contacting delivery firms directly may seem like the best option if an order goes missing, it is generally better to deal with the original retailer when complaints arise.