The company was purchased by private equity firm Apollo Global Management last week for £2.7 billion, which prompted the hiring spree. Up to four million packages a day are now the company's goal.

Along with over 1,000 warehouse and other support positions, the delivery behemoth announced that it plans to hire 8,000 additional couriers.per day on packages.

The company said key locations selected for the new jobs included Scotland, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, Plymouth in Devon and also Gatwick Airport.

Couriers typically earn around £16.50 per hour, according to Evri.

The recruitment drive comes after private equity firm Apollo Global Management bought Evri for £2.7bn last week, in a deal first revealed by Sky News.

Apollo fought off competition from rivals including Chinese retailer JD.com and DHL to take the company over from fellow private equity firm Advent International.

Evri, formerly known as Hermes until a rebrand in 2022, said the number of parcels being delivered is now higher than during the boom in home deliveries during the COVID pandemic.

It said the extra staff, which will take its workforce of self-employed couriers to around 28,000, will help it deliver up to four million parcels daily.

The company has been hit in recent years by complaints over its level of service, including delayed and missing deliveries.

Evri and rival Yodel were ranked the worst-performing out of the UK's major delivery companies in a survey by the charity Citizens Advice in November 2023.

In January 2023 Labour MP Carolyn Harris also called on the government to investigate the firm over alleged "poor customer service and working conditions".

The company said it has since invested millions of pounds in improvements and claims 99% of deliveries are now made on time.

Evri's chief executive Martijn De Lange said: "New client wins and increased parcel volumes are proof of the trust customers have in our service and our biggest-ever recruitment drive promises to deliver another record year."

The firm delivers around 720 million parcels annually and serves around 12 million customers a week.

Its major clients include retailers Marks & Spencer and John Lewis, as well as online platforms Etsy and Vinted.