THE Royal Mail sorting office in Swindon was swamped with more than two million packages in just one day.

The Dorcan centre has had to hire an extra 500 seasonal members of staff to cope with the demand of parcels coming through their doors in the run up to Christmas.

Mail centre manager Dan Williams said it was hard work an organisation that kept the system working.

“Our team of workers here at the mail centre are working extremely hard to process Christmas parcels, cards and letters,” he said.

“We are getting mail in 24 hours a day and with online demand, we’ve seen our parcels increase year on year.

“The mail is coming in all the time and we are focussed on keeping everything moving.

“We would like to remind our customers to post early and to ensure all their mail is posted by the recommended dates, so that friends and family can enjoy their Christmas greetings and parcels.”

Dan added: “If everyone uses the postcode on every item of mail, this also helps us greatly in the job that we do at this very busy time.”

One seasonal staff member said: “It has been an experience seeing the huge number of parcels coming into the centre – in all shapes and sizes.

“Although it is a very tedious process we do our best to make sure everything is sorted and processed ready to make sure it goes out in time.”

The last recommended posting dates are Thursday for first class and Saturday if using the special delivery option.

The Royal Mail has issued the following advice:

n Post early to avoid the disappointment of your item arriving after the date wanted.

n Use the postcode and a return address on the back of the envelope.

n For valuable and important packages use Special Delivery, which means your gift is tracked, traced and insured against loss.

n Always give a return address.