Work has started on the preparation of the postal codes for Grimsby, Cleethorpes and the surrounding area.
For the next six months, a team of Post Office workers will be engaged in the mammoth task of identifying every one of the 70,000 properties in the Grimsby postal area. which covers some 500 square miles and extends from Killingholme and Barnetby in the north, to Willoughby and Huttoft in the south.
This vast are includes Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Louth, Immingham, Sutton on Sea, Mablethorpe and Alford. At a house in Dudley Street, Grimsby, specially taken over by the Post Office for the work, the team is busy poring over large scale maps of the area - using microscopes if necessary- to identify every property at which a postman calls.
New system
The new codes are being prepared for the whole of the country in readiness for the bringing in to use of the new mechanised mail sorting system. Some areas around large cities already have them. Mr AJ Curry, Grimsby's Assistant Head Postmaster, stresses the tremendous amount of detailed work involved in preparing the coding.
Every one in the area should be informed of the new code by autumn 1972, he went on. "Then we shall want everyone to use the code as part of the address when writing to others". Members of the Post Office team may visit parts of the area in their efforts to identify some properties. Any one suspicious of their activities may safely challenge them - for they are issued with Post Office identity cards.