Tyneside family calls for stronger measures to tackle rapid online alcohol delivery
An 18-year-old from Tyneside is calling for urgent action to tackle rapid online alcohol deliveries after her cousin died following years of alcohol addiction and mental health challenges.
Anissa Khalfa says her cousin Tom, who died in March 2025 aged just 33, was able to order large quantities of alcohol through rapid delivery apps – which worsened the alcohol addiction which led directly to his death.
Now, alongside Balance, national charity Alcohol Change UK and the Alcohol Health Alliance, Anissa is calling for stronger safeguards to protect people at risk of alcohol-related harm.
This is the first time Anissa has spoken about her cousin openly. Tom struggled with alcohol dependency for several years before his death and his family campaigned in vain to halt online alcohol deliveries getting through while he was still alive, contacting companies directly to plead with them to end deliveries.
Anissa said: “Tom suffered with alcohol addiction for a couple of years before his death, worsened by his own mental health problems. He was like an older brother to me and seeing him struggle was extremely difficult, especially as the alcohol made everything much worse for him.
“I began campaigning around four years ago when I realised just how online deliveries were helping him to drink more and intensify his health problems. He was obtaining large amounts of alcohol at different times of day and night – often two or three times a day.
“He was obviously intoxicated when alcohol was delivered, and at no point to my knowledge was he ever refused. It would have been harder for him to go into a shop or a pub to buy alcohol in the same way like that. There was absolutely no safeguarding at all, and it was killing him.
“At one point we found around 60 wine bottles in his house. He had a good job so money wasn’t an issue to him – he would just order more via the same Apps but through different suppliers.
“Despite trying to find ways to block the deliveries, we could never access his account. When family, friends and doctors know that somebody is seriously ill from alcohol, there should be a right on these apps to be able to impose a block.
“I don’t particularly blame the drivers who are doing their jobs in difficult conditions. The responsibility is on the App companies and the suppliers to enable blocks and train their staff properly.
“The saddest thing was that when he was in hospital and got sober for periods, or a time when his phone charger broke, he said he wished he could just stop drinking, but once out it started again.
“He was really proud of me taking up the campaign to fight for him, but unfortunately, the temptation of being able to get alcohol from the apps was not enough to resist or beat the illness.”
Tom died in March 2025 following numerous episodes in hospital. He had both liver and heart complications as a result of alcohol, but the cause of his death was ketoacidosis – a condition where heavy drinking replaces normal meals, leading to low nutrition and empty sugar stores in the liver - and acute pancreatitis induced by prolonged alcohol use.
Anissa said: “He had so many friends and there were so many people at his funeral. I still feel bitterly angry though and wonder what would have happened had he not fallen into the online delivery trap which ended his life far too young.
“For people like Tom life is hard. There are millions of people struggling with alcohol related illness, and all around them are adverts and temptations to drink, from ads on the TV to piles of bottles at the front of supermarkets.
“We don't want others to go through this – but at the moment there will be thousands of others struggling with alcohol where online deliveries are putting their lives at risk.”
A UK-wide survey by Alcohol Change UK suggests more than 1 in 5 UK adults (22%) are using rapid delivery services to order alcohol at least once a week.
Worryingly, use - and harm - is concentrated among those already at risk of experiencing serious alcohol harm, with more than four in 10 (43%) individuals already exceeding recommended guidelines of 14 units per week using rapid delivery weekly, compared to fewer than two in 10 lower-risk drinkers.
Through its End the Delivery Trap campaign, Alcohol Change UK is calling for a series of measures to prevent and reduce harm linked to rapid alcohol delivery services:
- Robust age verification and intoxication checks at both the point of ordering and point of delivery.
- Easier ways for individuals, families and carers to block access to alcohol deliveries, similar to existing gambling exclusion schemes.
- Introducing a delay between ordering and delivery for larger alcohol purchases.
- Restricting alcohol delivery hours, for example between 10am and 10pm.
Susan Taylor, Head of Alcohol Policy for Fresh and Balance, said: “Anissa’s family’s shocking story is one of many coming out across the country on how rapid deliveries have destroyed people’s health, fuelled alcohol addiction and added to pressures faced by the NHS.
"Nearly half million people in the North East are estimated to be using rapid delivery apps to order alcohol regularly. Among them are many people already drinking at levels that increase the risk of harm, who are twice as likely to order alcohol through these services every week.
“It is abundantly clear now that national action is needed to strengthen protections to people who are addicted and at risk."
Dr Richard Piper, CEO at Alcohol Change UK, said: "Our thoughts are with Anissa and all those affected by the loss of Tom at such a young age. Sadly, Tom’s story and the ripple effects on his loved ones is not an isolated case, but a reality for so many individuals and families.
“Fast alcohol, straight to our doors and available round-the-clock, combined with weak and inconsistent safeguards, create a situation in which consumption can spiral out of control. Our research suggests that these services are making it harder for people to make changes to their relationship with alcohol, especially those drinking at more harmful levels. Drinking more frequently and more severely limits opportunities for people to take positive steps to cut back or stop drinking. And, rapid deliveries accelerate the process whereby lighter drinkers become heavier drinkers, and heavier drinkers end up experiencing alcohol dependency or worse.
“Regulation has not kept pace with the boom in delivery services and are woefully out of date. The Government has the power to change this, and we're working closely with relevant departments to explore modern, practical and proportionate measures would that protect, improve and save lives. Just as Anissa is bravely highlighting, Tom’s story is a reminder of how urgent this is.”
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance said, "It is well evidenced that increased availability of alcohol drives increased harm and alcohol is now more accessible than ever. With the touch of a button large quantities of alcohol can be at your door, removing many of the natural barriers that help people moderate their drinking, and creating new risks for vulnerable groups.
“Alcohol is not an ordinary consumer product, yet regulation has failed to keep pace with how it is now largely sold. We urgently need stronger safeguards for online and rapid delivery services to ensure greater convenience does not come at the cost of greater alcohol-related harm."