Local politicians have repeated calls to end the anomaly which sees some Borders residents in Berwickshire assigned an ‘English’ postcode.
Residents in Foulden, Paxton and Hutton area have a TD15 postcode, while residents in and around Coldstream have TD12. Both postcodes cross the border and are made up of predominantly Northumberland homes and businesses.
The cross border anomaly has resulted in all sorts of issues over the years, including missed winter fuel payments. Many other services also use postcodes, meaning there have been instances where someone contacting NHS 24 out-of-hours health service in Scotland from a TD15 postcode is told to contact the English out-of-hours service even though they live in Scotland.
After the issue was raised at their summer surgery tour today (Wednesday 2nd August), John Lamont MP and Rachael Hamilton MSP have said the time has come for residents to be given their own postcode to stop these issues happening again in the future. They have written to both Royal Mail and Ofcom to demand this issue be resolved.
Commenting, John Lamont MP said: “This issue has caused numerous problems over the years and it’s time it ended.
“I have contacted Royal Mail before over the inconvenience this causes but they have so far refused to act. They are failing to acknowledge that postcodes are used by other organisations other than Royal Mail and their allocation affects a whole range of services.”
Rachael Hamilton MSP added: “This anomaly may have been raised at our summer surgery tour, but it is an issue which has been causing problems for too long now.
“Sharing a postcode with a substantial chunk of Northumberland is causing confusion from winter fuel payments, to NHS out-of-hours services and even the delivery of post.
“Royal Mail needs to listen more closely to its customers and give residents in East Berwickshire their own postcode.”