Royal Mail to hire thousands to cover the festive period

Royal Mail are looking to hire 16,000 temporary jobs, 8,000 at mail sorting roles in England, 1,200 in Scotland with 500 in Wales and another 500 in Northern Ireland.

The temporary workers will cover Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the Christmas periods and five new temporary parcel sorting centres and 6,800 extra trucks and van will be hitting the roads over the festive period.

Grant McPherson, chief operating officer at Royal Mail, said: “We are pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers. It’s our busiest time of the year and we know how important it is for people that we deliver letters and parcels on time.

“By planning ahead and hiring more people, vans and trucks, we are well prepared to handle the expected increased festive mail and parcels and deliver the high standards of service our customers expect from Royal Mail.”