APC Overnight continues great 2012 by constructing £15m sorting centre

Work began on the Kingswood Lakeside site in Cannock earlier this year to the 138,000sq ft sortation hub, which is due to open in spring 2013.

Construction to the main building's steel frame is now well underway on the 12-acre site and once completed, the building will house APC Overnight's new national sortation centre, which is expected to process up to 200,000 parcels every night.

Syed Ziaullah, chief executive of APC Overnight, the UK's largest independent parcel company, said: "The new hub spells the beginning of an exciting phase in APC's history and I am delighted to see work progressing well on site.

"We are currently handling over 1.7 million parcels a month at our Essington hub and the new facility will enable us to double capacity and satisfy the huge demand for our services from APC's network of 115 depots across the country."

APC Overnight's two West Midlands depots are also performing well, with Tipton-based Advanced Delivery Services (ADS) celebrating an award win of its very own. Family owned ADS was crowned Depot of the Year by pallet distributor, UK Pallets.

Birmingham-based Trax Express is also celebrating after delivering long standing client Bike Tyre Store's millionth delivery.

To mark the milestone, the team presented a fittingly-shaped cake to Bike Tyre Store's managing director, Peter Smith at their offices in Birmingham.

APC Overnight is streets ahead of the competition following completion of the Certificate of Professional Competence for Drivers (CPC) by all of its LGV fleet staff, two years ahead of regulation.

The course, which all heavy goods vehicle drivers in Europe are required by law to take by September 2014, is a 35 hour programme that tests competence in all areas of heavy vehicle driving.

APC Overnight took the decision to put all of its trunk fleet drivers through the course to ensure that they all met with the very highest in driver standards.

Surjit Ram, transport manager for APC Overnight, said: "Our drivers play a vital part in our business, so to have them trained to the very highest standard ensures that we are providing the best possible service for our customers across the board.

"Road safety is imperative in any logistics firm, particularly one the size of APC, so to have our drivers qualified to the highest standard in their field gives us added confidence that every aspect of our service is top quality."

The qualification, which requires all drivers of vehicles over 3.5 tonnes to be tested, is now mandatory under European law.

The certificate is valid for five years, when the drivers will be retested to ensure they still comply to all areas of the test. The course tests all aspects of driving, from health, diet and rest periods for long distance drivers to load and public safety.

APC Overnight's trunking fleet handles in excess of 85,000 parcels every night and travels over 6.5 million miles a year.