ON 11 occasions since Christmas I have received, by post, letters clearly addressed to 73 Spur Road, with the correct postal code for that address, but different, of course, from mine at 73, Lancing Road.

I have also recently received a letter redirected from 73 Spur Road.

Is this happening only to me, or are scores of thousands of Orpington letters being wrongly delivered (hopefully re-routed as some are, no doubt, discarded) un-der this super-efficient mechanised postal code system that we are urged to use?

Must this gross inefficiency continue indefinitely? Or, could the News Shopper use its influence to contact the appropriate department of the Post Office in an effort to explain this remarkable fault in the sorting system?

When the postal codes were introduced, with the claim that they would speed deliveries, I pointed out in a letter to the Daily Mail that letters posted from all but possibly remote areas already received next- day delivery anyway.

Therefore, the real purpose of mechanisation was to save (make) money for the Post Office by reducing staff levels.

Lawrence Sutton

Orpington

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.