JCB employees in Wrexham are playing Santa this Christmas with a company-wide toy appeal to bring festive cheer to vulnerable youngsters.

The digger giant has launched the JCB Christmas Toy Appeal and set up 13 collection points across its sites in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham for employees to donate new and unwrapped toys.

Scores of gifts have already been donated - with the appeal still to run until Friday, December 2. They will be distributed through charities to those most in need just in time for Father Christmas to deliver them on December 25.

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Group HR Director Max Jeffery said: “As our attention gradually turns to Christmas, it is often those who are less fortunate than ourselves who become the focus of our thoughts.  As a team we are all committed to making a real difference to the communities in which we live and work and our employees are doing us proud in the way they have embraced this initiative.”

In Staffordshire, the donated gifts will be delivered to the NSPCC and the Stoke-on-Trent based Hubb Foundation for distribution. In Wrexham, where JCB has two factories, the gifts will be donated to the Yellow and Blue charity.

Adam Yates, CEO of the Hubb Foundation, said: “Every gift donated by JCB employees will have a massive impact on the lives of vulnerable young people this Christmas. This is a fantastic initiative by JCB, and we are delighted the company and its employees is supporting us and the NSPCC so proactively.”