WHICH COUNTY DO YOU LIVE IN ? Ask the GPO !

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Wilding Mad
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Joined: Sun May 03, 2020 11:19 am

WHICH COUNTY DO YOU LIVE IN ? Ask the GPO !

Post by Wilding Mad »

In 1974 county boundaries were amended under the 1972 local government act, in fact some counties or shires were amalgamated into other counties as was the case with Rutland, whilst some counties were created such as Greater Manchester.

On looking through various sites on the web, it would appear that after 46 years the GPO and Royal Mail still don't know the county they administer with regards to Postal services.

The majority of towns within Greater Manchester such as Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Ashton (Tameside) and Wigan have all been given the county name Lancashire on various sites, try searching for Bolton post office and you will see what I mean. Stockport, according to the GPO is still located to be in Cheshire ! You'd think they would know better by now.

It's quite possible that this is just the tip of the iceberg and other towns within the UK have been treated likewise. I tried contacting them by email regarding the cock-up but it would seem they don't even have an online complaints section relating to correspondence, unlike the latest commemoratives "Corrie", isn't it about time they got their act together !

Here is a recent screenshot taken with reference to the above concerning the post office at Stockport.
IMG_20201207_133039.png
The first site is correct with Greater Manchester, but on the 3rd site they state that Stockport is in Cheshire. I wish the post office would make their mind up !

The second attachment stated by both the Post Office and Royal Mail gives Lancashire as being the county for Ashton-under-Lyne !
IMG_20201207_082012.png
How many other incorrect locations exist throughout the UK ?

Do you know which county you live in ?

Ask the mailman or the post office if you don't know ! HA-HA :lol: WM.
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Wilding Mad
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Re: WHICH COUNTY DO YOU LIVE IN ? Ask the GPO !

Post by Wilding Mad »

It was just over 12 months ago that I first reported the various mistakes made by both the post office and Royal Mail stating the location of towns in Greater Manchester as being in Lancashire.

During this time there has been 3176 views of this topic and nothing seems to have been rectified since then.

It's obvious to me that nobody in these postal authorities is bothering to check for any errors that may have been made on something so simple, making me wonder just what other more important things they are still getting wrong.

Isn't it time they amended these locations, after all, it's been 47 years since the changeover occurred, almost as long as the incorrect statement made in 1962 that only whiter papers would be used to produce their stamps and that's now 59 years ago ! WM
65170
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Re: WHICH COUNTY DO YOU LIVE IN ? Ask the GPO !

Post by 65170 »

Somewhat tongue in cheek, I would advise you that the "GPO" of which you write has not existed since 1969, some 52 years ago, when it was abolished in The Post Office Act of that year. Also, there are administrative counties and (were) postal counties, the latter of which have not been a part of postal addresses since 1996. Postal counties were only ever broadly based on "real" counties and did not always reflect boundary changes, as I understand it. They were permanently removed from the Postcode Address File in the year 2000, so it is unlikely to be of any concern to our postal authority if there are discrepancies some 20+ years after their usefulness had ceased. Understandably, everything is today based on the outward portion of the postcode (such as RM2). GLENN
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Wilding Mad
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Re: WHICH COUNTY DO YOU LIVE IN ? Ask the GPO !

Post by Wilding Mad »

I'm sure that you will understand the meaning of GPO as being the post office without getting too technical.
According to what you say then Glenn, it would make no difference if Bury or Rochdale was stated to be in Devon providing the correct postcode was used.
I believe that if an address is being used by the postal authorities, it should be correct in stating which county it belongs to and not its county of the past.
Or are you in disagreement with my reasoning ? WM
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