On Sat, 1 Jul 2006 01:26:04 GMT, "Dik T. Winter"
wrote:
In article . com writes:
Richard M Willis wrote:
Surely, counties are not needed at all on postal addresses ?
All I usually give is
Persun's Name
xxx StreetName
postcode
It is a while since I have seen a Royal Mail Manual covering the
subject. It used to state that Counties are required followed the Post
Town with exceptions. The list of exceptions was very long.
Ah, in the Netherlands it is much easier. Postal code plus house number is
sufficient to get the mail delivered. So when you look at my signature
it is overcomplete. 1025 JN 215 is enough to deliver without any further
indication, you do not even need to state my name.
In most cases postcode and house number will get a letter delivered in
the UK but one single simple error can send the letter somewhere very
different. The postcode is principally a device for Royal Mail's use
and is not readily translatable by the majority of people whereas an
address has much wider usage. In the absence any other public
authority defining addresses in a uniform manner it is the RM
definition which in practice has universal usage when premises need to
be located, but minimising the presented information increases the
risk of confusion of same- or similatly-names places. Although the
county is not regarded by RM as a required address detail it still
exists within the RM system, usually seen as a deciding detail where a
postcode is requested for an address in a place whose name is not
unique or is almost the same as another place elsewhere in the
country.
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