Approximately 400 orange-clad postmen will work from four delivery offices across the area, to deliver post to 250,000 households, with sorting coming from the company's hub in Iver, near Heathrow Airport. 

TNT, part of Dutch-owned TNT Express, is the UK's largest private mail delivery firm, handling more than 300m letters and parcels a year for customers including Tesco, Barclays, BT and Sky, as well as public sector clients such as hospital trusts and local authorities. 

Until now, it has only been able to focus on bulk delivery and sorting, due to the Royal Mail's monopoly on delivering to family homes. 

News of TNT's pending expansion comes amid a massive overhaul of the publicly owned postal group, following the transfer of £28bn of assets from the Royal Mail pension fund to the Treasury, ahead of an expected £4bn stock market float as early as next year. 

Source: The Telegraph