Royal Mail takes on staff to ease bad weather backlog

Around 100 extra postal staff in the West Midlands have been taken on to cope with the bad weather, it was revealed today.

Royal Mail bosses have taken the casual workers on in addition to 400 posts created for the Christmas period.

Around 60 of the staff are working at the North West Midlands Mail Centre in Sun Street, Wolverhampton, which handles post for the WV, WS, ST and DY postcodes.

A further 40 posts are based at the Wednesbury delivery office in Kings Hill Business Park near Darlaston.

The extra staff are handling the backlog of post caused by recent bad weather elsewhere in the country.

They were also helping to ensure that deliveries were being made today, with the mail operation in the Midlands slowed up by treacherous conditions on side roads.

Paul Ashraf, plant manager at Sun Street, said: "Today's weather has not helped, but Royal Mail has committed an extra £20 million nationally including 3,500 more staff to keep the post moving."