A LUXURY hamper company in Oxfordshire recruited 38 new staff in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic to keep up with the high demand of the festive season.

Orders were stacking up at the Milton-based business and Hampers.com bosses were forced to hire extra help with the rapid increase of sales online in the run up to Christmas.

Three temporary staff were hired for the sales team, eight for customer service and 27 to assist in the warehouse.

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Patrick Gore, managing director of Hampers.com, revealed that as the high street was forced to shut during the second lockdown, the company received a boom in orders.

He added: "We knew sales would be higher than usual this year, but we did not expect them to be this high – we have had to add many more temporary members to the team than we had initially anticipated needing.

"We are always proud to be able to offer job roles to those within the local area who most need them, whether the company they used to work for is no more, they have been made redundant or once again find themselves on furlough.

"We are hoping that the demand stays and we can turn the temporary roles into something more permanent."