Top of the charts for delivery ‘difficulty' included the Hugh Town area of the Isles of Scilly [Postcodes TR21 - 25] the Outer Hebrides [Postcode HS], Highland, Moray [Postcodes IV 1-56], the Highlands [Postcodes PH 30 - 50], Renfrewshire [Postcode PA80] and the Shetland Isles [Postcodes ZE 1-3], forcing consumers to not only need to plan their festive deliveries further in advance, but to also fork out extra fees to ensure parcels reach loved ones on time.

Couriers Yodel and DPD advise of an additional 5 and 3 - 5 working days respectively to complete deliveries to these regions, with DPD charging an additional £21.50, Amazon requesting £18.95 and Hermes £2.40.

Those trying to reach loved ones on the Island of Guernsey [Postcode GY 1 - 10], Isle of Man [Postcodes IM], Isle of Arran, North Ayrshire [Postcodes KA 27 - 28], Orkney Islands [Postcodes KW 1 - 17] and Perth and Kinross [Postcodes PH 10 - 26] have a similar challenge, but with Yodel only requesting an additional 1-day in delivery time.

Both Amazon and Hermes drop their additional delivery charges for Towns and Villages under the postcodes AB 30 - 32 and AB 41 - 43 in Aberdeenshire and postcodes G 63 and G 83 - 84 in Dunbartonshire, with locations in Carlisle, Angus & Dundee, Dumfries & Galloway, and Tees Valley free of additional time and cost sanctions, despite being under the top 24 hardest to reach locations.

Towns and Villages in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, North Yorkshire, Carmarthen, and Pembrokeshire in Wales also made the list, which has been compiled by Quote Goat, an insurance, finance, and energy comparison site for both consumers and businesses.

In discussing the research, Michael Foote, founder of Quote Goat, said: "Christmas is always an incredibly busy time for parcel delivery, and it's not widely known what additional time and cost sanctions will be applied when trying to reach loved ones in more remote locations.

Although we very much expected areas like the Hebrides and Shetland Isles to be on the list, it was interesting to see how additional time and costs differed between locations and that areas in Pembrokeshire - a common UK holiday destination - also made the list."

The full list of the UKs hardest to reach locations can be seen here: