Avalanche of applications to help Royal Mail at Christmas

The Royal Mail has received more than 80,000 applications for 18,000 seasonal Christmas jobs, thousands more than last year.

The postal group said it was delighted with the strong response to fill the temporary positions, which support the 130,000 full-time postmen and women at their busiest time of year.

The number of applications is 10,000 more than last year, although the Royal Mail said that it is still looking for more seasonal workers in several areas, including Watford, Peterborough, Bristol, Edinburgh, Swansea and Northampton.

Seasonal jobs will be available between mid November and early January 2012.

Royal Mail is recruiting around 1,000 people in London, 1,500 each in the North West and Anglia, 2,000 in the South East, South West, Thames Valley and the North East, 3,000 in the Midlands, around 2,000 people in Scotland, 1,000 in Wales and 400 in Northern Ireland.