9:00am Tuesday 31st August 2010
PEOPLE in Herefordshire could soon find themselves apparently living in Worcestershire or Shropshire, according to Royal Mail’s new postcode rules.
The postal service is stamping out counties from its database of 28 million addresses because it says they are a “vanity attachment”.
Herefordshire and its neighbours face the axe because the firm only needs a house number, street and postcode to deliver.
But the decision could leave several communities with a confused identity - and others in an international no-man’s land.
Residents in Glasbury, Bishops Frome and Leintwardine believe they could lose their real county connection altogether.
The trio have Hereford, Worcester and Shrewsbury postcodes respectively even though they lie in different counties to their postal addresses.
Jeanie Falconer, owner of Frome Valley Vineyard, said Herefordshire was an important part of her firm’s identity.
“Our Worcester postcode isn’t the end of the world, but we live in this county and that’s important to us,” she said.
Under the new rules, letters addressed to the village will have the WR6 code and no reference to Herefordshire, giving the impression that Bishops Frome is in Worcestershire.
Royal Mail insists that even postal towns are unnecessary, and will erase “obsolete” counties such as Cleveland and Avon by 2013.
John Fitzgerald, from Glasbury, claimed the move could upset the Welsh as many villages and hamlets in Powys have a Hereford postcode.
“It’s very good for them but not for us, because the problem is not getting letters but deliveries,”
said Mr Fitzgerald.
“I’ve lost count of the number of times a delivery driver has rung me and said, ‘I’m in Hereford, but I can’t find you’.
“I think the Royal Mail is off its trolley. I live in Powys, not Hereford, and will continue to write that.”
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