A pensioner felt "intimidated and scared" after delivery men for Ikea threatened to leave kitchen parts in the street if he did not give them £20, it has been claimed.

Sayed Hasan, 78, was allegedly forced to hand over cash during delivery of his son's £1,550 kitchen when two delivery men refused to take the items indoors.

Furious IBM partner Navaid, 40, claims the delivery pair told his elderly father it was "company policy" to leave boxes outside the terraced house on April 3.

But it is claimed that after Sayed asked the men to take the boxes inside they refused to finish the job unless they were paid £10 each.

Accountant Navaid, of Carminia Road, Balham, believes the two men knew his father would not have been able to move the heavy packages indoors.

He said: "He is a 78-year-old man and is a retired and elderly gentleman.

"He felt unduly harassed and intimidated by them because they put the kitchen parts outside the front of the house and said it was company policy not to take them in.

"It was in the middle of the day and they weren't going to take them in at all and he said I will give you a fiver and they said they wanted at least a tenner.

"They then proceeded to take photos with their smartphone, probably in order to confirm that they did as they were supposed to.

"They were big strapping lads, my dad felt so intimidated and scared."

Navaid, who paid a £35 delivery charge, complained to Ikea customer service who were apologetic and said it was an isolated incident.

He added: "They said they would repay the cash when they got to the bottom of what was going on, but the damage has been done."

Andreas Grill, customer fulfilment manager at Ikea UK and Ireland, said: “We are deeply concerned to learn about this experience and we are glad this has been brought to our attention.

"We deliver over one million customer orders every year and would never expect our delivery partner drivers to request payment at the door.

"Following being made aware of this isolated incident, we have immediately launched an investigation in co-operation with our delivery partner.

"We will also reach out directly to the customer to understand what happened and to ensure appropriate action is taken."