Royal Mail has launched a drive to recruit hundreds of temporary workers in West Yorkshire for the busy Christmas period.

There are 670 temporary jobs available at Royal Mail’s mail centre and parcel sorting centre in Leeds.

The temporary recruits will help to sort Christmas cards and parcels and online shopping orders before they are sent to about 1,400 delivery offices for postmen and women to take out on their rounds.

A mix of full and part-time indoor sorting positions on early, late and night shifts will be available.

The temporary positions will be available from late October through to early January, 2018.

They also include posts available at Royal Mail’s Sheffield and Normanton sites.

Across the UK, the company is seeking about 20,000 “Christmas casuals to help sort the festive post and an increasing amount of online Christmas shopping.”

About 16,000 people will be recruited to work in mail centres, distribution centres and data centres across England, including about 1,000 roles at a new parcel centre in Warwickshire. There will also be about 1,000 jobs in Scotland, 300 in Wales and 500 in Northern Ireland.

Royal Mail Group’s express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, is also recruiting about 900 extra sorting staff and 1,200 drivers throughout the UK.

Royal Mail chief operations officer Sue Whalley said: “Christmas continues to be our busiest time of year. We plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service for UK consumers and businesses at Christmas.

“We are continuing to make a substantial commitment in additional resources including the recruitment of thousands of temporary workers to handle the festive mailbag and the growing market of online Christmas shopping.”

People can apply for the temporary posts via a dedicated website – www.royalmailgroup.com/xmasjobs