1,500 seasonal jobs at Rugeley Amazon base

Positions have been created at the firm's base in Rugeley to cope with the busy seasonal period. Some of the jobs will become permanent.

Nationally the company is taking on 15,000 new workers in the lead up to Christmas.

Amazon is booming as shoppers move away from the high street to buy online, and Christmas is one of its busiest times of year.

Director of operations at Amazon, Catherine McDermott, said: "On our busiest shopping day last Christmas, customers ordered a total of 3.5 million items during one 24-hour period at a rate of 44 items a second.

"Seasonal associates play a critical role in making sure we meet increased demand from customers. As we continue to expand our UK operations, we expect many hundreds of these temporary associates to move into permanent positions as has been the case in previous years."

Last year Amazon created more than 10,000 seasonal jobs in the run up to Christmas across the UK.

By the end of January, Amazon had offered permanent roles to 1,000 temporary workers.

The distribution centres across the UK will hold more products than ever before, bosses say.

Recruitment for the seasonal jobs will be ongoing in the run up to Christmas.

Amazon has more than 6,000 permanent employees in its UK offices, distribution centres and customer service centres. The company recently secured a 210,000 sq ft office in Central London to provide additional capacity.

Last year Amazon took on 1,000 workers at its distribution centre in Rugeley.

The online retailer opened its huge base at Towers Business Park, measuring 700,000 sq ft, in September 2011 and brought 900 jobs along with it. A 15-year lease was signed.

Goods, including DVDs, computer games and e-book readers, are boxed up ready for distribution across the country.

It was announced as one of the 17 centres to be built worldwide as part of Amazon's ambitious growth plans.