Information on postcodes/ addresses on the Royal Mail website

[Name Removed] made this Freedom of Information request to Royal Mail Group Limited
This authority is not subject to FOI law, so is not legally obliged to respond (details).
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Royal Mail Group Limited.

Dear Royal Mail Group Limited,

Which organisation supplies the informational the Royal Mail for the postcode/address finder?

http://www.royalmail.com/business/find-a...

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]

FOI, Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Jt

Thank you for your email. The ownership of this data is explained in the Postcode/Address Finder terms & conditions on the webpage itself: http://www.royalmail.com/postcode-finder...

Please note that, following the flotation of Royal Mail on the London Stock Exchange in October 2013, it is no longer subject to the Freedom of Information Act. Royal Mail was previously subject to the Act because it was wholly owned by the government. However, this is no longer the case and we are therefore no longer obliged to respond to requests for information under the terms of the FOI Act.

Anyone who requires information about our products and services can visit our websites or contact our customer services teams directly:
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-a...
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-a...

Further information about the Postcode Address File is available from our website: http://www.poweredbypaf.com/the-history-...

Yours sincerely,

Colin Young
Information Rights and Governance Team
Royal Mail Group

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Dear FOI,

Thank you.. But I wanted to know which company(?) supplied you with the information.

This is because an extra house had been added to my postcode..which doesn't exist. Because one house changed its name around nine years ago.

Now the office has the new house name ...And recently...the old house name. It was correct before.

That's why I wanted to know where the information came from...which is a reasonable request to a company, particularly since a bogus address can be used for criminal purposes.

Yours sincerely,

[Name Removed]

FOI, Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Jt

 

Thank you for your further email.

 

Anyone with concerns in respect of addresses recorded in the postcode
address file should contact Royal Mail's dedicated Address Management Unit
(AMU) for further investigation:
[1]http://postbus.royalmail.com/marketing-s...

 

As previously explained, following the flotation of Royal Mail on the
London Stock Exchange in October 2013, it is no longer subject to the
Freedom of Information Act. Royal Mail was previously subject to the Act
because it was wholly owned by the government. However, this is no longer
the case and we are therefore no longer obliged to respond to requests for
information under the terms of the FOI Act.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Kate Watkinson

Information Rights and Governance Team

Royal Mail Group

 

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Dear FOI,

Are you stating that you do not know where the incorrect information came from?

Or that it's just too top secret to allow the public to know?

Since your company is not subject to FOIA, wouid it be better to write to your CEO?

Yours sincerely,

[Name Removed]

FOI, Royal Mail Group Limited

Dear Jt

 

Thank you for your further email.

 

As explained previously anyone who requires information about our products
and services can visit our website or contact our customer services teams
directly:

 

[1]http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-a...

[2]http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-a...

 

Enquiries or concerns regarding information held on the postcode address
file should be directed to the Address Management Unit:

 

[3]http://postbus.royalmail.com/marketing-s...

 

The Information Rights and Governance Team are unable to assist you
further in respect of your enquiry.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Kate Watkinson

Information Rights and Governance Team

Royal  Mail Group

 

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[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Thank you..

But the request is redundant anyway.

As Royal Mail CEO Moya Greene has inmediateiy 'asked her team to look into it.'

criminals.

::::::::
Here's her response:

Thank you for your email and for sharing your concern about address management. I have asked my team to look into it for me.

Yours sincerely

Moya Greene
Chief Executive Officer

::::

I always think it's a shame to have to bother busy senior officers CEO's- but I find they have more understanding of the implications of requests and complaints.

As explained, this sort of online address mistake had implications for criminal use..... As the address doesn't exist.

So a bogus addresses on the Internet was being vouched for - by their appearance of the Royal Mail website.

Therefore the source of the misinformation needed to be traced, as there may be other bogus addresses that could be used by criminals.

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Since the lower-ranked employees seem unable to give out the Top Secret information that it is LOCAL COUNCILS that supply the Royal Mail with postal addresses, anyone who wants any information of this sort should email the RM's chief executive Moya Greene at :

moya.greene@royalmail.com

Ms Greene is sensible and helpful. And the information was suddenly readily given, via Twitter.

But....

1. Why on earth should this information be so secret ( especially when bogus addresses can be used for criminal purposes)? It needs to be corrected at source.

2. Why does the RM have a WDTK presence- if responses are that the RM is not subject to FOIA...so responds by stating that it isn't giving out any information.?

[Name Removed] (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Anyone interested in Royal Mail information should ignore the WDTK responders above and write to its CEO

moya.greene@royalmail.com.

If a house is named - after a temporary builders address, or renamed, both addresses remain on the RM's postcode finder.
According to the RM this is to aid deliveries.

The term used for the old addresses is 'alias' addresses. Although why 10 year out-of-date addresses would aid deliveries is a bit of a mystery.

Logically, having official bogus addresses on a public site could obviously assist criminals ordering goods.
Or even confuse the public trying to find a correct address, as around 1 in 17 of the addresses on the site no longer exist.

Which was the reason for the request. Who determines which bogus 'alias' addresses are added?

The answer turns out -basically- to be the local council and postpersons

::::

This is the sensible non-quibbling response from the CEO's office.

::::

Postcode Finder.

In response to your specific questions:

1. I would like to know how many of these alias addresses exist?

Of the 29 million postal addresses in the UK, there are approximately 1,17million properties which have alias identifiers. The vast majority of these are properties which have changed from a numeric identifier (such 1 Acacia Avenue) to a house name (such as Glebe Cottage).

2. And if the RM is going to make any distinctions on its website as to real addresses/ bogus addresses.

We appreciate that the presentation of Alias identifiers on our Postcode Finder does not make a distinction of the property address and its alias. We are investigating how we can improve this and address the potential confusion with the supplementary information provided with the alias data.

Yours sincerely

Janet Debio
Chairman and Chief Executive Office