1,500 new full-time jobs will be created by DPD, the European parcel delivery company, as it expands to cope with an explosion in online orders.

The firm plans to invest £100m in building a new parcel sorting hub in the East Midlands, as well as £20m on refurbishing two existing hubs.

The firm plans to invest £175m overall.

DPD attributes its strong growth to the rise in popularity of online ordering. It says that since it launched its Predict service in March 2010, which provides customers with a one-hour delivery timeslot for their parcel, it has won over £70m in new business.

The company also plans to invest £20m to upgrade its existing depot network and create 10 new depots over the next 15 months.

"This investment will allow us to expand our network capacity further to meet the demands from our customers and maintain our very high service standards," said DPD chief executive Dwain McDonald.

(H)