Thousands of people, including former company directors and lawyers, have applied for 150 low-paid seasonal jobs at a Leicestershire zoo, bosses said.

Applicants from as far away as Wales, Cornwall, London and Yorkshire turned up at Twycross Zoo's recruitment day.

At one stage traffic tail-backs exceeded five miles.

The zoo has had to draft in extra people to help process the applications which managers said normally only attracted 16 to 18-year-olds.

Low wages

The contracts available are short-term and for the minimum wage.

Kim Riley of Twycross Zoo said: "We've had company directors who've been looking after major companies, PAs, lawyers, really over-qualified people applying for jobs for catering assistants, retail and front-of-house ranger jobs, which are just directing cars."

Catering manager Paul Bramble added: "There was one gentleman that sat down in front of me, he was a middle-aged man... well-dressed in a suit and tie, he had a full CV in front in him, and I felt as if he should have been in my seat, he was kind of over-qualified to be going for one of the catering jobs that he was going for."

Other applicants included former publicans, carpenters and Woolworths staff.

The zoo said it would let people know the outcome of the recruitment day within two to three weeks.