Full disclosure: we were only (partly) kidding when we threw a lazy burn at e-commerce giant Amazon’s hitherto unsuccessful attempts to launch their Prime Air delivery by drone service since more than a decade ago.

But holy hell; an MK30 drone dropping from the blue in the UK – on the day that DoorDash launched its own drone logistics programme – was not something we had on our Bingo card.

But believe it or not, that is what happened.

The Amazon MK30 drone crashed into a garden while delivering a package in Darlington, a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, in North East England.

Reports from the UK say John Peacock, a retired chemical engineer named heard what he described as a huge noise at around 10:15AM on Wednesday morning at Beaumont Hill — and when he looked outside, he found an Amazon Prime Air MK30 delivery drone lying in a neighbouring garden with its motors and propellers still running.

Amazon rushed to say that nobody was injured in the crush, but this crash was just the latest in a long line of drone failure that the e-commerce conglomerate has suffered in recent times.

Just in February this year, an MK30 drone collided with the side of an apartment building on Routh Creek Parkway while enroute to making a delivery. The aircraft shattered and fell onto a public sidewalk below, where it began sparking and emitting heavy smoke with its propellers still spinning.

Firefighters arrived on the scene to ensure the battery didn’t ignite a structural fire, and Amazon crews safely retrieved the wreckage. No injuries were reported.

Other mishaps were as below

• May 2021, Pendleton, Oregon (Test Range): During experimental testing at Amazon’s rural testing range, an 89-pound MK27 prototype drone suffered a propeller failure and plummeted to the ground in an uncontrolled state.
• June 2021, Pendleton, Oregon (Test Range): While flying at an altitude of 160 feet, the MK27 prototype drone experienced motor failure and went into a tailspin. Upon impact, the onboard lithium-ion battery ruptured and burst into flames, sparking a fire that consumed roughly 20 acres of wheat field before local firefighters extinguished it.
•  July 2021 — Pendleton, Oregon (Test Range): The same MK27 drone type again. A test drone dropped 120 feet out of the sky due to hardware failure. FAA documentation later revealed that at least eight test drones crashed in a 12-month period between 2021 and 2022 as Amazon pushed its systems to operational limits.
• December 16, 2024, Oregon Test Facility: At an altitude of 217 feet, an MK30 drone completed a mock package drop, ascended, and then abruptly cut power to its six propellers mid-air, crashing into the ground. Just four minutes later, a second MK30 flying at 183 feet over a taxiway suffered the exact same failure. NTSB investigations revealed that a software update made onboard LiDAR altitude sensors vulnerable to light rain. The sensors misread the altitude data, leading the drone’s software to mistakenly believe it had touched down, which triggered an immediate motor shutdown. Amazon temporarily paused testing operations until the FAA approved a software patch in March 2025.
• October 1, 2025, Tolleson, Arizona: Two MK30 delivery drones struck the boom of the same active construction crane within minutes of each other. The collisions smashed both aircraft, causing a battery to eject and catch fire on impact. One bystander was evaluated by emergency personnel for smoke inhalation, and the event prompted joint investigations by the NTSB and FAA.
• November 2025, Waco, Texas: Just 13 days after launching commercial delivery service in the area, an MK30 drone severed an overhead residential internet cable during its post-delivery vertical ascent.

For yesterday’s mishap, the spokesperson said Amazon’s initial assessment suggested an "object extending above the roof of a moving vehicle inadvertently came into contact" with the Prime Air drone during a delivery.

"Following the contact, the drone responded as designed and came safely to the ground, the spokesperson said.

"We are continuing to investigate and are working closely with the relevant regulatory authorities."

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it was investigating.

Amazon launched the drone delivery trial in the town earlier this year, with the drones delivering packages weighing less than 5lb (2.2kg) and containing everyday items such as beauty products, bin liners and cables being delivered within a 7.5mile (12km) radius of Amazon's fulfilment centre.

Darlington is the only place outside the US where Amazon is providing the drone delivery service.

The scheme received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority for a trial until the end of the year.