TRIMDON – A VILLAGE THAT DOES NOT EXIST?

On first settling in Trimdon (Village), I was told by the person who had owned the house before I moved in, that occasionally there were problems with the mail. The reason being that there exists an identical address in Trimdon Station with an almost identical postcode. ‘That should not present too much of a problem,’ I decided; but I was wrong.

As predicted there were problems with mail being delivered to the wrong address, which at first I considered a minor hiccup. However, when on a regular basis goods were delayed or did not arrive and tradesmen failed to turn up at the agreed time or not at all, I became concerned. But especially so when a fire engine – booked by appointment to check smoke alarms – went to the ‘other’ Trimdon and finding no-one in called it a day. Then I became angry, began to ask questions and learned that any problems exist because the postal code TS29 shows Trimdon Station, not Village. Feed TS29 into a computer and it will show Trimdon Station, but never Trimdon Village. This led to the embarrassing experience of being turned down for business by a retailer because my given address of ‘Trimdon Village, TS29’, came up as ‘Trimdon Station’, and did not correspond with that given.

This was the last straw and I decided to write to the appropriate authorities, the Address Management Centre, Sunderland and ask their advice. It was then I learned to my horror, according to that centre, Trimdon Village in its own right does not exist!

But there was worse to come: I had asked for helpful advice, but there was none forthcoming, only a terse reply that amounted to ‘take it or leave it’ , and that my address was not ‘Trimdon Village‘, but ‘Trimdon Station‘ and ’Village’ should not appear on letters as part of my address or in any post code!

Not satisfied, I pursued the matter further and in reply the AMC Sunderland said; and I quote: ’Royal Mail’s priority is to ensure all mail is delivered to all our customers as quickly and as efficiently as possible.’ They further added: ’Changes to postal can be inconvenient for householders and businesses who may need to reprint stationary, produce new literature, repaint vehicle livery, update customer databases and advise their correspondents of the change.‘

Both answers brought a smile to my face. First, because my mail is not being delivered as they and I would wish. Second, all I ask is to be allowed to continue to include Trimdon Village in my address and to have Trimdon Village recognised as an entity in its own right on post code data bases.

However, the AMC do say they would be prepared to agree to this if there was a response rate of more than 50% of the residents in favour of the inclusion of Trimdon Village in the address.

I am somewhat proud that I live in Trimdon Village, and would like it recognised as such. So, watch this space; perhaps something will come of this….

Mark Robberts.