£20m push to get mail through severe weather

Royal Mail is spending £20 million on extra measures to handle the severe weather as it deals with the busiest posting day of the year, it was announced today.

An extra 250 large lorries will be used to transport mail and up to 3,000 more temporary workers will be recruited as part of "significant" extra resources, especially in areas hardest hit by the snow, including Scotland and the North East.

The postal group said it expects to handle 130 million Christmas cards, letters and packets today ahead of the final posting dates of Saturday for second class and December 21 for first-class mail.

Mark Higson, managing director of Royal Mail, said: "We are pulling out all the stops to deliver this Christmas. The worst December weather the UK has seen in almost 30 years has had an impact on our services to some parts of the country.

"With this additional £20 million investment, we are committed to ensure we deliver letters and packets as quickly as possible.

"Our people are doing a great job in very challenging conditions. I would like to thank them for their tremendous efforts to ensure we continue to deliver right up until Christmas Eve."