Postcode proposal

I T IS a shame that LJ Smith did not put their address (September 6) and although I agree with their comments regarding Avon, they seem unaware of the full picture.

Postcodes linked homes to the depot that dealt with their mail. I was born in Portishead, Somerset with a postcode BS because letters were directed to Bristol for sorting.

This excluded local letters which were managed at our old post office sorting office here in the town and residents used to write “local” in the bottom left hand corner to distinguish mail that did not need to leave Portishead. This made a lot of sense and saved time and money. However, our post is now more likely to be sorted in Taunton, than Bristol which has a TA postcode.

With Bristol being a county in its own right, many residents refused to put Bristol on their address because our county is Somerset and few took to the new title Avon when it was brought in.

Weston-super-Mare has a Bristol postcode even though it is Somerset, albeit north of the county, and it would be ridiculous for someone to put Weston-super-Mare, Bristol when the local authority serving the town is North Somerset Council which is based in Weston.

So LJ Smith’s ideas would not work unless they brought in a new NS postcode and I am sure there would be chaos including financial implications if Bristol served all homes with the current BS postcode. So I for one will not be embracing Royal Mail’s proposal to phase out counties.

I was born in Somerset, am very proud of it and it will remain forever on my address as it always has been.

Annette Hennessy,

Portishead, Somerset.