LOCAL posties will be going Christmas crazy this year!

Royal Mail is expecting a record breaking festive postbag.

And to cope with demand the company is drafting in extra vehicles and staff.

In Wigan and Bolton alone there'll be 33 extra vehicles and 25 extra staff helping with the 11.8 million items expected to be posted at the 313,602 delivery points.

Royal Mail's director and general manager for the north west region, Ken Barker said:

"We are planning for our heaviest postbag in history.

"We want everyone to get their seasonal messages through in good time for Christmas so our main message to customers is post early and please use postcodes.

"We are also urging everyone to write addresses clearly on all mail and to seal envelopes."

The latest recommended posting date for second class mail is December 18, while postings for first class letters and cards is December 21.

The last air mail dates are December 6 for addresses outside Europe and December 13 for Europe.

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