The Royal Mail has launched a campaign to recruit 19,000 temporary workers to deal with its bulging Christmas mailbag, of which about 730 will work in Kent.

Seasonal staff will help sort the surge in festive post, helping to support the company’s 124,000 postmen and women working across the country.

Positions are available from mid November to early January in a variety of shifts.

The recruits will help to sort Christmas cards and parcels before they go to around 1,400 delivery offices for postmen and women to take out on their rounds.

Royal Mail Group’s express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, is also recruiting extra people throughout the UK.

One of the company’s six distribution centres is based in Kent at Fort Bridgewood off Maidstone Road, Chatham.

Royal Mail’s operations director for the East region Tony Fox said: “Christmas is the busiest time of the year for Royal Mail and we plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service to our customers.

“Every Christmas, we make a substantial financial commitment in additional resources to handle the festive mailbag, including the recruitment of thousands of temporary workers.”

To apply, visit www.royalmailgroup.com/xmasjobs.