§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what new postcode areas have been introduced in each decade since 1972. [87341]
§ Mr. Timms[holding answer 16 December 2002]: The first postcodes were introduced on a trial basis in Norwich in 1959. The Postcode Address File (PAF) owned by Royal Mail contains over 27 million addresses with over 1.7 million postcodes.
739WThere are currently 124 postcode areas, 3,000 postcode districts and 9,700 postcode sectors.
In 1972 there were 120 postcode areas. Since that time Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have been postcoded (JE, GY and IM) respectively. The IM and GY postcodes date from 1993 and the JE ones from 1994. The only other new postcode area to be added since 1972 was HS for the Hebrides which was introduced in 1995 to overcome specific quality of service problems.