Postcode causing road chaos (From Gazette Series)

Postcode causing road chaos

YOU may have heard of the postcode lottery but in Wotton-under-Edge the address system is proving anything but lucky.

Lorry drivers, who are unfamiliar with the area and delivering goods to the town and surrounding villages, have long found themselves in the wrong place often causing congestion and blocking other motorists.

Wotton town councillors are among those frustrated by the situation, thought to be the result of the town and several surrounding villages sharing the same postcode, GL12.

Members of Wotton Town Council have previously discussed the problem of delivery lorries arriving in the town that are actually intended for surrounding villages such as Charfield, Falfield or Tytherington.

They have always argued the extended postcode region is to blame.

Cllr Elizabeth Warren, mayor and chairman of the town council, this week said the situation was getting ridiculous.

She said: "We have expressed great concern about the number of lorries that end up in the middle of Wotton blocking the roads."

However, at their meeting this week town councillors announced that Royal Mail had informed them nothing could be done about the problem.

Cllr Warren said: "Royal Mail has told us that a postcode is not intended as an exact geographical location."

Royal Mail spokesman Susan Dakin said postcodes were introduced to better organise the delivery of post.

She said: "Postcodes are to identify certain collections. They are in place to help operate a more efficient management system for the delivery of mail.

"If an individual company uses post codes to navigate lorries that is their decision but there are a lot better ways of doing this like these new Satellite Navigation Systems."