A Wirral mother is campaigning for tighter controls on alcohol delivery apps after her daughter, who could barely walk to the shops, had 18 bottles of wine brought to her door in her final week. Carla Black, 38, from Claughton in Birkenhead, died on 3 December 2023 leaving a teenage son.

Her death certificate listed fibromyalgia, sepsis and cirrhosis. Teri Black said: 'The week she died, and she was very sick that week, we found she'd had 18 bottles of wine delivered.'

Family Discoveries After a Hidden Decline

Carla lived with fibromyalgia, a condition that causes widespread pain and made walking and household tasks a struggle. She worked from home and raised her son Ashton, then 17. After a miscarriage and a painful break-up her drinking increased.

Eighteen months before she died her grandson told Teri that Carla had been drinking heavily. Teri cleared bins that filled with wine bottles in a single week. Five months before the end Carla revealed a cirrhosis diagnosis. Teri offered rehab and even to sell her house.

Carla kept drinking and still ordered alcohol after work. Couriers sometimes left the crates just inside the door or carried them in because she could not always get there herself.

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Petition Seeks Review of Alcohol Delivery Apps

Teri, 64, a foster carer, has started a parliamentary petition calling for a review of alcohol home delivery and the safeguarding of vulnerable adults.

Published on 1 June 2026, it asks ministers to examine enforcement of the Licensing Act 2003 for delivered alcohol, consistency of doorstep intoxication checks and the regulatory accountability of online platforms. By late September it had 549 signatures and remains open until 1 December 2026.

Alcohol Change UK's April 2026 survey found that 22% of UK adults — around 12 million people — reported ordering alcohol through rapid-delivery services at least once a week.

Dr Richard Piper, the charity's chief executive, said: 'In a normal licensed premises people would be being refused, but they're at home, they're already drunk and they're ordering more alcohol. That's the killer loophole.'

On X, the Institute of Alcohol Studies called Carla's death another life lost to a 'killer loophole' in alcohol licensing.

Uber Eats said every alcohol delivery requires a date-of-birth check and a sobriety assessment. Deliveroo said riders are trained to refuse if a customer appears intoxicated and accounts can be suspended if family members raise concerns.

Calls Grow for Limits on Rapid Access

Teri argues that responsibility can become blurred between supermarkets that hold alcohol licences and third-party delivery platforms. Self-exclusion options exists but she said the current safeguards are not working. She wants a buffer, a limit or a flag so someone has a moment to think.

Teri said online purchasing can make problematic drinking less visible than repeated visits to a local shop. The cost, she added, falls on the NHS, social services and police as well as families. Carla was lucky to have support, but many do not.

The petition remains open while Alcohol Change UK and other groups press the government to update licensing rules for the age of rapid delivery services.

Teri cut short a holiday in Spain when an ambulance was called and reached Arrowe Park Hospital only in time to gather relatives so they could say goodbye. Teri said she is still numb but hopes the review will spare other families the same loss.

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