Sorry We Missed You (2019) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Ricky sells the family car because he needs a van to work as a self-employed delivery driver for Maloney. The franchise opportunity requires him to have his own vehicle, and the family uses the money from selling their car to purchase the van. This sacrifice is significant because Ricky's wife Abby uses the car for her work as a home care nurse, but Ricky sees the delivery job as their best chance to escape mounting debt.

Foreshadowing: The film earlier establishes the family's desperate financial situation after the 2008 crisis, making this difficult choice feel inevitable.

• family car
• van
• delivery job
• debt
• financial crisis

Ricky hits Seb because he believes Seb hid the van keys as an act of revenge for the earlier fight about Seb's school truancy and graffiti. The stress from his demanding job, financial pressure, and being falsely accused combined to trigger an explosive reaction. Ricky has been struggling with the relentless pressure of deliveries and fines, and the missing keys represent another problem he cannot control, leading to a moment of violence against his son.

Foreshadowing: Ricky's growing frustration with the job has been building throughout the film, and earlier scenes show him losing patience with Seb's rebellious behavior.

• Ricky
• Seb
• violence
• keys
• argument

Liza Jane, Seb's younger sister, hid the van keys. She hid them to punish Ricky for the way his demanding job has affected the family. After Ricky and Abby's heated argument with Seb about his truancy, Liza Jane acted out of anger toward her father by taking the keys, knowing it would cause problems for Ricky when he needed to leave for work.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes show Liza Jane witnessing the family tensions and Ricky's preoccupation with work, setting up her act of defiance.

• Liza Jane
• keys
• hidden
• Seb
• blamed

Liza Jane hides the keys because she blames Ricky's job for causing the family's problems. She is angry that his demanding delivery work has created stress at home, led to selling the car, and taken time away from the family. Her act of hiding the keys is a child's way of expressing frustration and punishing her father for choices she believes have damaged their family life.

Foreshadowing: Liza Jane has been affected by seeing her parents' stress and the family's financial struggles throughout the film.

• Liza Jane
• keys
• anger
• job
• family problems

Ricky is robbed and brutally assaulted while making deliveries. The attack leaves him physically injured and traumatized. He sits in the hospital waiting room seeking treatment when his boss Maloney calls to inform him that the barcode scanner destroyed during the assault will result in fines exceeding £1,000, adding financial terror to his physical pain.

Foreshadowing: The film has been building tension around the dangerous, high-pressure nature of Ricky's job throughout his delivery routes.

• robbery
• assault
• injuries
• hospital
• fines

Ricky returns to work because he faces over £1,000 in fines for the destroyed barcode scanner, and the family cannot afford to lose the income. Despite his injuries and his family's desperate pleas for him to stay home, the financial pressure forces him back onto the road. The film depicts this as a tragic commentary on how economic necessity traps people in exploitative work situations, even when their health and dignity are at stake.

Foreshadowing: The entire film has been establishing how the family's debt and lack of alternatives trap them in increasingly desperate situations.

• work
• injured
• money
• fines
• family
• pressure

Seb begins rebelling as a response to the growing tension at home. With both parents stressed from their demanding jobs and financial pressures, Seb feels neglected and angry. His graffiti and truancy are expressions of teenage frustration with the family's situation and perhaps a subconscious way of getting attention from parents who are too overwhelmed to focus on him.

Foreshadowing: Earlier scenes show the parents worrying about Seb's behavior and the impact of their work demands on their parenting.

• Seb
• rebellion
• graffiti
• school
• family stress

Ricky faces fines of over £1,000 because his barcode scanner was destroyed during the robbery and assault. As a self-employed driver under Maloney, he is personally responsible for equipment losses and faces deducted wages or penalties. This financial burden comes on top of his physical injuries, adding to the family's desperation.

Foreshadowing: The film establishes early on that Maloney is a tough, no-nonsense employer who enforces strict penalties.

• fines
• scanner
• Maloney
• money
• robbery

Selling the car severely impacts Abby's ability to do her job as a home care nurse. Without the car, she struggles to travel between patients, arriving late and having less time for each one. The transportation burden adds to her physical and emotional exhaustion, making her already demanding work even more difficult and leaving her with less time for her family.

Foreshadowing: Abby initially resists selling the car because she knows how essential it is for her caregiving rounds.

• Abby
• car
• caregiver
• work
• patients

Yes, the family remains together, though strained. Seb eventually reconciles with the family after the violence, and they remain a unit facing the system together. However, the ending is bleak - even after the assault and reconciliation, Ricky is forced back to work by financial necessity, showing that the family's love cannot overcome the economic pressures crushing them.

Foreshadowing: The film's relentless tone suggests throughout that love alone cannot save them from the system trapping them.

• family
• together
• reconciliation
• strain