Britain's major parcel couriers have insisted that road risk management is a priority as they prepare for the build-up to Christmas. It's expected that retailers will send out 20 per cent more parcels in the last three months of the year when compared to last year, with deliveries expecting to peak with Black Friday on 27th November. With 20 per cent of non-food sales now made online, the rush of deliveries at Christmas is now considered fairly standard. æIt's expected that, by the end of 2015, retailers will send more than 860 million parcels to British homes, an increase of over 600m, in 2012, according to information from retail body Interactive Media. The expected festive rush has spawned a huge amount of recruitment by the country's courier firms, with Yodel alone recruiting 7,000 part-time and full-time staff. Amazon UK alone is in the process of recruiting 19,000 seasonal workers, with the vast majority of roles in company warehouses and customer service centres.æ Royal Mail is also recruiting a similar number of staff in order to help distribute the post during the festive period. All of the distribution companies have said that occupational road risk management will be a priority for them, with strict employment criteria for employees including regular driving license and vehicle checks as well as insurance clarification for vans driven by owner-drivers and the self-employed.
