Postcode change is curse of sat nav

Sat navs can be a blessing but for one Shropshire village they are more of a curse after directing lorries down narrow lanes instead of to a nearby industrial estate.

A mix up of postcodes could be to blame as drivers are being sent through Wistanstow, Craven Arms, instead of to The Grove industrial estate, which is on the opposite side of the A49 from the village.

The issue was raised at the first meeting of the Craven Arms and District Local Joint Committee on Monday.

The confusion is believed to be down to there being just one letter difference between the postcode for the industrial estate and an area in the village.

Tony Overs, company secretary for Border Holdings UK Ltd (Britpart) at The Grove, said: "We are aware of the problem and it's been on-going for some time.

"When we first moved here in the 90s, we were told our postcode ended with a B. The housing development hadn't even been built then."

Aware

The new development was later given the same postcode as the industrial estate, which was then allocated a new postcode ending in A.

Mr Overs said: "We changed all our literature and our website and made sure our customers and suppliers are aware.

"But there's historical information out there on the web."

Wistanstow Parish Councillor Allan Millhouse said residents sympathised with drivers who were unfamiliar with the area. He said they wished to resolve the problem because the wide vehicles were churning up the sides of the roads and damaging the verges.

Mr Overs asked anyone spotting a lorry trying to get through the village to contact him with its details so he could inform the necessary people.

He said: "I know it's frustrating for residents. I need to know who is causing the problems."

A spokesman for Royal Mail said that the postcode ending with a B had been originally allocated to one large business in The Grove.

She said it had been changed in 1999 and was given a new postcode.