A personnel agency has struck a 'cracking' deal which will create up to 300 temporary jobs in the city.

The Henry Court Group Plc, in Manningham, Bradford, has become the sole supplier of temporary staff to Hallmark Cards' Christmas cracker producing subsidiary, Unique Images.

The deal, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, will see Henry Court recruiting packers from the Holme Wood area within the next few weeks.

The company was invited to tender for the contract after supplying employees to Unique Images, whose Bradford plant is in Dawson Lane, last year.

Industrial manager Yousaf Amin said: "The client had been impressed with what we had done and asked us to put in a tender."

Set up in 1978 as Swift Employment, one of Bradford's first agencies, the Henry Court Group now has offices in Blackburn, Manchester, Liverpool and Warrington.

Mr Amin said the Hallmark deal would spur the firm on to further success.

Last year, Henry Court was presented with Investors in People status by thevEast Lancashire Training & Enterprise Council (ELTEC).

Adverts for positions with Unique Images, which will be available from May to December, will appear in next Wednesday's Telegraph & Argus.