A Tesco delivery driver bombarded a 21-year-old student with explicit text messages hours after dropping off her shopping.

Sofia Isabella had received the delivery at her home in London on Wednesday and then went to bed a few hours later.

But the driver - who she said was 'grinning and flirty' during the encounter - decided to save her number and began sending her lewd messages in the middle of the night.Sofi

Sofia Isabella (pictured left and right) was bombarded with sexually explicit messages from a Tesco delivery driver hours after he dropped off her shopping

After explaining he had delivered her shopping earlier that evening, the sender wrote 'I think your sexy', followed by a lewd sexual request.

The driver, who Tesco say worked for an agency, has since been barred from working for the supermarket and is being investigated by police.

Sofia Isabella, who is training to be a make-up artist, said: 'I was so distressed and shocked by it. He wasn't even afraid of losing his job and getting into trouble.

'This isn't the first time I've had sexually inappropriate messages like this. But what does that mean for women? It's like we aren't protected by anybody. It was really quite scary.'

Sofia Isabella, who lives with other friends above a shop, said the driver - who falsely gave his name as 'Joe' - had been overly friendly when he arrived at her home. He then offered to bring the bags inside the house, but she declined.

'He didn't ask me to sign anything as I just grabbed the bags and went back inside. He just shouted "OK, bye" and that was it,' she said.

But she was woken up at 3am by a phone call from an unknown number. When she saw the messages, she instantly replied telling him she was going to the police.

The driver 'Joe' - who she said was 'grinning and flirty' during the encounter - decided to save her number and began sending her lewd messages in the middle of the night

One of the other messages read: 'Hie ?? I delivered shopping to you this evening my name is Joe'. Another simply read: '????????'

Sofia Isabella shared the text messages on social media yesterday and had hundreds of messages of support.

'A lot of people replied to my post online saying that they've had the same thing happen to them, so this obviously wasn't a one-off,' she said.

More and more people are getting away with things like this. It shouldn't be tolerated, especially not by a massive corporate company like Tesco Sofia Isabella

Sofia Isabella has since informed both Tesco and the police and is urging them to give the man a harsh punishment.

Sofia Isabella said: 'Tesco need to do something about it. This is a huge breach of customer privacy, but because it's an agency driver, they're saying it's not their fault.

'From what I've been told, they have dismissed him but he hasn't been struck off by his agency. It's like people won't take responsibility for bad things that happen.

'Tesco needs to accept responsibility. I have been a customer for five years now getting home deliveries, but they won't even apologise.'

She added that things could have been much worse if she had been attacked.

'On his text message the guy gave me a made-up name, so they need to find out his real information,' she said.

'More and more people are getting away with things like this. It shouldn't be tolerated, especially not by a massive corporate company like Tesco.

'I couldn't get back to sleep on Wednesday night. The guy knows where I live and it's made me feel so unsafe.'

A Tesco spokesman said: 'This behaviour is completely unacceptable. We took immediate action to ensure this agency driver will never work for Tesco again and are in contact with the customer.

'We are extremely sorry for any upset caused. This is now a matter for the police.'

A Met police spokesman said: 'Officers are investigating an allegation of malicious communications that was reported to police on Thursday, 10 December.'

The worker had been placed at Tesco by recruitment firm Integrated Solutions.

Paul Karras, managing director, said he had worked with the company since March and had an impeccable work history and good references.

He said: 'This is something he did while not in work hours for either Tesco or Integrated Solutions.