Parcel firm in £20m upgrade plan

A Sandwell parcel firm has revealed plans for a £20 million upgrade that will create 250 jobs.

GeoPost UK, the parent company of DPD and Interlink Express, wants to develop an old sorting hub at its Smethwick site so it can handle 150,000 extra packages a night.

Jobs created as part of the project would include sorting workers, drivers and managers while the upgrade would allow GeoPost UK to process up to 800,000 packages a night.

As part of the project, an extra access point would be introduced on the Kenrick Way dual carriageway to cope with the increased number of trucks.

Announcing the news today, GeoPost UK's director of central operations Charlie Shiels said: "We would like to expand in Smethwick and we are in discussions with the council about introducing another access point.

"We are delighted. We will continue to do the best we can for our business."

The upgrade plans come as a result of steady growth across the company, with Interlink Express carrying 20 per cent more parcels than in the same time in 2011.

Mr Sheils said he believes the firm would not need building permission to make the upgrade because the hub would not get any bigger. But the project would be subject to the new access point being introduced.