Coalville's Amazon Fulfilment Centre is about to enter its busiest period of the year - with thousands parcels passing through the doors of its Bardon Hill base.

And Coalville Nub News was given a behind the scenes look at how the centre will process and deliver those packages in the run up to Black Friday and then Christmas.

The first thing that strikes you about the place is the sheer size of it.

Use the car park outside they said and come into reception.

But that was not just a case of drawing up and stepping into the building.

It was a good five minute walk to get from car to entrances.

That is when you suddenly realise how big the place is. The size of a football pitch? Make that 16.

And the inner workings of the Amazon centre is like being in an aircraft hanger, with room for more than one plane.

Another notable feature is how spotless the place is.

Not that I expected anything less, but hygiene is a major part of keeping things running.

Amazon is like a well-oiled machine, but with hundreds of employees coming in and out of the building, the coronavirus pandemic is at the forefront of everyone's thoughts.

And as General Manager Martin Cox explained, Amazon workers can now be tested on site to ensure that Covid-19 regulations are adhered to on a daily basis.

That also extends to social distancing and the wearing of masks in the building.

It is worth nothing that Amazon has not closed its operation at all - even in March when the first coronavirus wave meant a national lockdown.

The online giant had to learn about the virus as it went along - and immediately introduced a system whereby people could work there safely and then adapted as required.

"They're everywhere as you walk by. Socially-distanced seating has been introduced in the canteen, even a bank of 30 microwaves has been re-positioned around the outside of the canteen," explained Martin.

Swab testing for Covid-19 is also available for employees – it is voluntary - and Amazon has its own test centre in Manchester where the tests are processed.

In the Spring, online shopping rose dramatically with people urged to stay at home.

Now Amazon faces its first festive period with a system in place that makes sure your wait for an order is not delayed.

But it is not just Black Friday the centre has been gearing up for.

Last week, Coalville's Amazon centre shifted thousands of boxes of the new PlayStation 5 for overnight despatch.

The consoles had been at Coalville for days, but could not be sent out until the November 19 launch date.

And, as Martin explained, there will be extra demand for just about anything you can think of between now and the new year.

That means seasonal jobs are available for people in the North West Leicestershire area.

"We'll be looking at around a peak of 1,000 people here during that time," he said.

"In a typical day, we're looking at tens of thousands of items.

"There are 10,000 seasonal jobs around this time across the Amazon network, and we would see an increase in head count of around a third at the Coalville centre.

"It's pretty close to a 24 hour a day operation seven days a week.

"But we have a conversation with people who come in here about helping them with their careers.

"People might think of it as a short-term thing, but we have apprenticeship schemes, we are getting people to stay with us in the longer-term.

"We also help fund a scheme called Career Choice which allows people to get help with IT skills, HGV driving and engineering.

"This is about the people. And safety first is key, but we support people who want to be here, not because they have to be.

"Within the fulfilment centres themselves there are multiple jobs that don't touch a box."

Martin says that employees need to be trained to make sure the process runs as it should.

He added: "It all starts on day one, people can ask questions and we'd rather they did.

"There's a button to push if you don't know what you're doing - we can correct it immediately but we'd rather that than people make mistakes."

But Martin says Amazon have had to adapt and react to the Covid pandemic.

He added: "There was initially a lot of communication from the teams of 'what's going on, what are we doing?'.

"We also invested heavily in safety, for instance, we're surrounded by hand sanitiser.

"They're everywhere as you walk by. Things have been moved in the canteen.

"We were constantly working with our teams and listening to the Government.

"Even down to making sure everyone has a mask and PPE.

'We can also help them with testing, we have our own facility here."

Amazon employees have their temperature tested as soon as they walk into the building - and if it is too high, they do not come any further.

Martin added: "We can test people on a regular basis.

"We can catch people if needs be.

"But we have also staggered our shift to limit the people coming in and out of the building.

"We've also changed our exit and entrance as well so we don't have - it was one way in and out, but we are now keeping people away from each other as much as possible.

"The staggering of shifts means we limit the people arriving and leaving at the same time.

"We want to make it as easy as possible. The last thing we want to do is delay people."

Martin emphasised that the centre wants to give back to the area and it not just an out of town American company.

He said: "Before the pandemic, we were doing a lot with schools, which was great as the pupils ask us some top notch questions.

"But we also staged the first computer science and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education Amazon class, that was at Ellistown Primary School near here.

"I was there last Christmas and the pupils were trying to make something they could sell through Amazon for a profit.

"Later they presented something they had done.

"And we also work with local charities as well as local businesses.

"We do a lot, local businesses have been able to expand through Amazon - which means they can reach the rest of the country rather than just Coalville.

"Others have come here and taken on delivery roles. We can support that. Whenever we can support people locally, we will."