Mail sorting office to open in time for Christmas

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/10029766._/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

A RUSH to snap up Christmas presents online has led Royal Mail to open a dedicated parcel sorting centre in Swindon for the festive season.

The popularity of websites such as Amazon and eBay has led to the town being chosen as the location for one of eight new hubs across the UK.

It will open on November 26 in Stephenson Road, on the Groundwell Industrial Estate, and handle more than 462,000 parcels in the busiest days before Christmas.

The centres will sort a significant proportion of the packages Royal Mail handles before they are distributed across the UK and delivered to the door.

The other depots are in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bolton, Tamworth, Peterborough, Swansea and Greenford.

They will be opening on a phased basis this week.

Royal Mail announced the move by saying the investment was in addition to the extra resources it had put in place to handle the festive mailbag.

The new depot is also expected to create jobs for temporary workers.

Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s managing director of operations and modernisation, said: “Christmas is the busiest time of year for Royal Mail and our customers.

“Royal Mail has invested in eight dedicated parcel sort centres to increase our scale and improve our flexibility during this important time of year for our customers.

“As we do every year, we encourage people to post early and order presents early to help us spread the workload of handling the festive mailbag in the run up to Christmas.

“We also encourage people to make sure they correctly address their cards, letters and parcels, including using a postcode.”

Customers can check postcodes for free at http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

Christmas stamps are also now available. The five stamps, designed by Axel Scheffler, the best-selling children’s illustrator who drew the Gruffalo, feature traditional Christmas scenes and characters including Father Christmas, festive robins, Christmas trees and a reindeer.

Mr Scheffler said: “It’s been an interesting and enjoyable experience working with Royal Mail on developing the Christmas stamps.

“I hope they’ll add a little extra colour and fun to the festive season.”