36 year old Brazilian Marcelo has been delivering DHL parcels for seven months. Morning! Hello.
Good morning. How are you? Good morning.
Incredibly, Marcelo averages delivery of one parcel every two minutes. It's pressure. Yeah.
We saw each other's days. There's pressure on you, huh? Always steps.
Steps up, steps down. Sometime I dream about steps, you know? Thank you very much.
Thanks, bye. Have a good day. Bye.
Marcelo's a really happy, positive character. . .
Have a lovely day. Thank you. Thank you very much.
who puts out a really nice image as he goes around to those customers. He's a great advertisement. In the busiest traffic in Britain, Marcelo still manages to hit all his targets.
DHL. Okay. But Phil's disappointed to discover Marcelo isn't even a permanent member of staff, he's a freelance courier.
With no contract or ties to the company, Marcelo has been thinking of leaving to join a rival firm in the hope of securing a permanent job. Marcelo fears losing his job and salary because 14 years ago he was forced to leave Brazil to find work as his parents were poverty stricken. My Daddy's financial wasn't that good.
He lost everything and I'm the only boy he got. I said, "Daddy I gotta go somewhere else to help you, Mom and Daddy. " Without knowing a word of English, Marcelo found work in the UK.
He's been sending money home to support the whole family ever since. Approximately how much money do you send home? I send about half my wage home.
The other half of the money pay my bills down here. So you are working very hard in a foreign country to support your Mom and Dad. Yes.
And do you miss them? A lot, a lot. And they miss you?
A lot. You know, I love to talk to them every day but I don't like talk to them every day because we both cry, both parties. There's no word that could explain how much I miss them.
(moving music) It's tough for anybody to come here and establish themselves. To arrive here, 21 years old, no money, no language, and get into a job in London and make a success of it. He's an extraordinary guy.
