There are mix-ups, and then there are mix-ups—your latte coming out with soy instead of oat, your neighbor’s package of novelty socks showing up at your door. But as the Manchester Evening News details, what happened to Josh Davies in Bolton rather spectacularly redefines the concept. Davies, a police control room officer of unremarkable contact lens needs, ordered his regular supply online and was greeted instead by a parcel containing a vial of a stranger’s blood—biohazard sticker and all. If you’re wondering whether he got the clarity he was looking for, let’s just say the answer was, quite literally, a bit muddied.
A Parcel With Bite (and Blood)
To set the scene, Davies recounted to both the Manchester Evening News and NBC Right Now that his delivery from Lenstore appeared ordinary on the outside—identical to what he’d received for years. Yet, upon opening the box, he discovered not contact lenses but a plastic bag containing a small vial of what appeared to be someone else’s blood sample, complete with a biohazard warning.
In NBC Right Now’s coverage, Davies is quoted as saying, “My jaw dropped and I was very confused, to be honest. It completely threw me as it didn’t make sense.” There was also the oddity of an extra piece of tape sealing the package, a departure from the usual presentation—a detail highlighted by both outlets.
After this peculiar unboxing, Davies attempted to sort out the odd inheritance. He told Manchester Evening News the package “felt light but I thought nothing of it,” only to have the true surprise awaiting inside. This was no case of a missing order slip; the only thing missing was any rational explanation.
The Medical Mystery Tour
With his newly acquired biohazard, Davies took what some might call a “belt-and-suspenders” approach by contacting both the supplier and the local health services. According to NBC Right Now, he called Lenstore: “I contacted Lenstore directly and spoke to a woman from customer support but I don’t think she grasped what I was telling her.” He was asked the sort of question that could only appear in 2025: whether there was “any blood on the box or contact lenses,” a memorable if unhelpful query under the circumstances.
Manchester Evening News goes on to describe Davies’ next step: he handed the sample over to his GP’s office, only to be met with “incredibly confused faces.” Staff repeatedly questioned whether the sample was his—understandable, given he had recently undergone blood tests himself, though as he clarified to both outlets, the packaging didn’t match what his surgery used.
After the brief (and undoubtedly memorable) detour into medical confusion, Davies was finally advised to return the whole mysterious package back to Lenstore. Meanwhile, he worried aloud—in comments featured in both reports—about what might be happening on the other end: “You don’t know how important that is for somebody – has a lab scientist opened a box with my contact lenses in it?”
Measures and Mishaps
When approached for comment by Manchester Evening News, a Lenstore spokesperson said the company takes “matters like this very seriously” but was unable to discuss individual orders. They confirmed, however, that they had reached out to Josh for details and promptly sent him a replacement order.
On the logistics end, NBC Right Now relates that Royal Mail, having been approached for comment, stressed that they do not open or alter the contents of mail and that to do so would be a criminal offense. Their spokesperson recommended the customer take it up with the original sender.
Both outlets agree that Davies received new contact lenses the next day and that his initial interaction with Lenstore had otherwise been unremarkable for years. He voiced a certain lingering worry—will someone, somewhere, be waiting for critical medical results that never arrive?
A Postscript on Packages and Probability
It’s not every day the universe drops a literal blood twist into your daily routine. While factory and logistics errors like this are rare, as both news agencies observed, they do happen—leaving the rest of us to contemplate just how intricate (and fragile) that system of conveyor belts and labelled boxes really is.
If you’re lucky enough to open your next parcel without any added biohazard, perhaps that’s reason enough for quiet celebration. Or perhaps, drawing on the dry irony that seems to float through this whole story, there’s a lesson lurking amid the absurdity: always expect the unexpected, and perhaps keep a pair of latex gloves close just in case.
