Cracking the codes not easy
11:29am Tuesday 12th March 2002 in News
A GROUP of people living in the north of Bexley are appealing to the Royal Mail to change their postcode.
West Heath, Bexley, is classified as Abbey Wood because of the SE2 postcode.
West Heath Community Association has written to the Royal Mail pointing out when postcodes were first introduced, they were decided on according to the nearest postal sorting office.
For the West Heath area, that was the sorting office in Abbey Wood hence the SE2 post code.
But the Abbey Wood office has now been amalgamated with Thamesmead which makes West Heath's nearest sorting office Glengall Road, in Bexleyheath.
The association says the SE2 post code has had a negative affect on people in West Heath, even though they live in Bexley borough and not Greenwich.
It says it means higher insurance for their houses, belongings and cars compared to other areas of the borough.
A spokeswoman for Consignia did not hold out much hope of getting the change: "It is a very big job (changing postcodes). I don't know of anywhere where we have changed the first part of a code especially for the reasons these residents would like."
