Fast food chain KFC’s food shortage crisis has deepened after 220lbs of chicken were found dumped on the roadside.
Civil engineer Dean Kenny discovered bagged up poultry on his lunch break while working on traffic lights in Exeter, Devon.
The sell-by date on the chickens was February 22, sparking concerns they had simply been abandoned because they could no longer be used.
It comes after a tumultuous week for the fast food chain, which had to close hundreds of branches due to a shortage of chicken over delivery issues.
Civil engineer Dean Kenny found crates containing whole chickens, pictured, at the side of the road near a KFC in Exeter
The chickens, pictured, were past their sell-by date and were supposed to be delivered to KFC
Mr Kenny said he went to a nearby KFC branch in Ashton Road, Exeter, to report the find and had a ‘very weird’ conversation with a manager.
He said: ‘It was so weird. She just left quickly in her AMG Mercedes to pick up the chicken. I don’t know where she went or what she did with the chicken.
‘I just couldn’t believe what I saw. The chicken had a kill date and the use-by date on it and everything. It was so bizarre.’
Mr Kenny added: ‘I’d just nipped away for lunch, and when I got back I found all of these crates dumped on the side of the road – all full of chicken, packaged with KFC branding.
‘They [the delivery men] must have just opened their window or door at the traffic light and dumped the food there.’
The packaging on the boxes displayed the kill and use-by dates of the chicken, while each crate revealed that the packages weighed 47lbs each.
KFC said a delivery driver had dumped the food on the road in a ‘completely unacceptable’ move.
A spokesperson said: ‘When our Ashton Road branch did not accept a delivery of chicken earlier this week, it was drawn to our attention that one of our distributor’s drivers had dumped the crates on the side of the road.
‘This is completely unacceptable. As soon as we heard about it, team members from the restaurant were sent to collect the chicken and ensure it was disposed of correctly.’
The issue was pinned at the hands of DHL who recently took over the deliveries to the fast food chain.
A KFC spokesman added 95 per cent of stores were back open but said: ‘Due to the ongoing distribution challenges DHL is experiencing, disruption to some restaurants may continue, including reduced menu and shortened opening hours.’
Problems appear to still be in place at KFC’s depots, however, with lorries still facing lengthy queues to drop off food.
One driver, who was delivering over 20 pallets of chicken to the centre in Rugby, said: ‘I think it is better than last week, but it’s still not great.
‘The vehicles seem to be moving through considerably faster, but even still it’s a much greater wait than at other depots.
‘I’ve been here for over an hour and a half already, and I’ve been told that it’ll be another half hour before I can get in there.
KFC confirmed the delivery was not accepted by one of its branches and said the dumping of the poultry was ‘completely unacceptable’
It is the latest incident in a tumultuous week for KFC following a chicken shortage crisis
‘Apparently they’ve been having issues with computers in there, but I’m not sure how true that is.
‘Hopefully the situation is going to keep on improving, because we’re sat here while we could be making other deliveries.’
Driver Dora Chriac, 50, added: ‘It’s ridiculous, I’ve been here for nearly three hours and there’s no prospect of getting in any time soon.
‘I don’t know why it’s taking so long. No one has explained anything to us yet.
‘Somebody told me I’d be in soon, but I don’t know when. It’s very frustrating.’
Another driver, who was dropping off frozen chips and tortillas, said: ‘I got here at 11.37am, so it’s been a fair wait.
‘You do sometimes sit outside places for four or five hours, but never out on the road like this.
‘Normally you’re inside the premises, not waiting to get in.
‘It seems to be quite poorly designed and implemented.
‘At one point I had to get to check that I was in the right place, that’s how bad it is. I’ve never had to do that before.
‘They haven’t shown us where the toilets are either – depots are obliged to give you those facilities and show where they are’.
DHL apologised for the ‘operational issues’ earlier this week.
KFC themselves released an apology on Friday which featured an empty bargain bucket with the letters ‘FCK’ on it – an anagram of KFC.
Images from inside a warehouse in Rugby last week show a stacks of green trays filled with KFC chicken at the depot which faced being destroyed
It said: ‘A chicken restaurant without any chicken. It’s not ideal. Huge apologies to our customers, especially those who travelled out of their way to find we were closed.
‘And endless thanks to our KFC team members and our franchisee partners for working tirelessly to improve the situation.
‘It’s been a hell of a week, but we’re making progress, and every day more and more fresh chicken is being delivered to our restaurants.
‘Thank you for bearing with us.’
As reported by MailOnline, the crisis left zero-hour contract staff facing an anxious wait over pay and shifts.
And crates of chicken were left stacked up at warehouses and depots including one in Rugby, Warwickshire.
One lorry driver claimed he had to sacrifice a full load of chicken because his vehicle’s temperature was set wrongly at the ‘understaffed’ distribution centre.
A delivery driver, who used to work for DHL, claimed one driver was forced to wait for 36 hours because he had fries, not chicken. He also claimed conditions were chaotic at the depot, with the freezers ‘absolutely chocca’.
At its peak, the crisis left half of KFC’s 900 UK outlets closed.