Drop off or pick up your shopping at Bedford station

Rail bosses have teamed up with retailers and a courier firm for a new and more eco-friendly way of shopping conveniently.

Bedford Midland is one of 11 Thameslink stations where new automated InPost lockers are being installed.

Online shoppers can also collect items from a range of retailers, including boohoo, NastyGal and Holland & Barrett. They can then choose a local locker to collect their parcels from, and once the parcel has been delivered to the locker will be sent a QR code by SMS and email which is scanned at the locker to open the door.

On the Thameslink route, automated lockers are being installed at Mill Hill Broadway, Luton Airport Parkway and Bedford stations.

On the Great Northern route, they will be at Essex Road, Hornsey, Enfield Chase, Winchmore Hill, New Barnet and Grange Park.

On the Southern route, InPost lockers have recently been installed at Wandsworth Common and South Croydon station.

Other locker locations include supermarkets and petrol stations.

Anna Kiddle, senior business development manager for Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “It takes less than 10 seconds to pick a parcel up, and the new lockers should really help our customers to arrange deliveries in a more flexible way.

"The company’s aim is also to be sustainable and environmentally friendly by encouraging the use of these lockers, diverting use away from single delivery drop-offs to houses.”

To send a parcel, log onto inpostdirect.co.uk