Delivery firm Yodel will be opening 13 new locations.

These are to begin operations ahead of the Christmas period and will consist of seven satellite facilities and five standalone service centres, as well as a returns facility located in the Midlands.

Yodel chairman Dick Stead said: "The importance of the Christmas period cannot be underestimated and our planning for this year's peak period began in January."

Distribution plans include daytime sorts at its relevant centres and running deliveries every day of the week to meet the expected volumes in December.

Mr Stead said the company was planning "for a harsh British winter" with contingencies already in place to maintain services - each of the new locations will be stocked with a minimum supply of rock salts, ice melts, de-icer, snow shovels and scrapers. Yodel has also purchased a number of snow ploughs to keep warehouses open for its logistics operations.

It has also been recruiting a temporary workforce since September, to allow for more training time, expanding the current workforce to 16,000.