Wem council calls for an end to Shrewsbury mix-up

Councillors in Wem are renewing calls for Shrewsbury to be removed from the town's addresses amid claims it continues to cause confusion with letters and parcels sent to wrong locations.

Pauline Dee, a Shropshire Council member for Wem, said because the town shared a postal code with Shrewsbury it caused problems with ordering items online and post turning up at wrong addresses.

She claimed a lot of people outside the area thought Wem was part of Shrewsbury.

Councillors have been calling for changes for nearly 10 years which have been renewed after claims that a young mum was left "petrified" after police wrongly turned up at her house in the early hours.

The incident late last month involved three police cars turning up to an address in Wem at 4am, responding to a 999 call about anti-social behaviour.

But officers had been directed to Barleyfields in Wem rather than Barleyfield in Shrewsbury's Monkmoor area. Police say this was not due to confusion over postcodes but rather two similar street names and incorrect information initially given to the call taker.

But it sparked a renewed call from residents for something to be done over the post code as well.

Resident Geoffrey Dunn said: "These sorts of things have been happening over a period of years and if they drop the Shrewsbury name we might stand a chance.

"What worries me is if it had been a fire and fire crews had turned up to the wrong address.

Councillor Dee will raise the issues at Wem Town Council tonight in Edinburgh House, from 7.15pm.

She said: "It has caused lots of confusion. People think Wem is part of Shrewsbury. Some place names in Wem and Shrewsbury are similar and I think there have been problems with people trying to deliver

Richard Hall, a spokesman for Royal Mail, said: "If they can provide us with examples and believe they are not getting the right service we will happily investigate to find the root of the problem."

Staff at Wem Post Office say they have not experienced any problems.

By James Pugh