‘We want our postcode back!’

A sea cadets group say they want their postcode back because of an error that sends deliveries and visitors to the wrong place.

Watford and Rickmansworth Sea Cadets has been teaching young people sailing and other aquatic skills from its site by the Grand Junction Canal and the River Gade for decades.

Its headquarters just off the Rickmansworth Road has the postcode WD3 3DG, but typing that into the Royal Mail’s postcode finder or mapping services like Google brings up Croxley Underground Station – almost a mile away.

The mixup has sent many new members and volunteers the wrong way for years – but delivery drivers are often in too much of a rush to reroute.

“Probably about 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the time they will put the postcode in and follow that,” says the group’s chair Priyan Patel.

“That’s the correct postcode for our location that is on all of our documentation and has been for 60 years.”

The mistake has become a bigger issue in the past few weeks, with workers for refurbishment work started a month ago wrongfooted and time wasted.

Watford and Rickmansworth Sea Cadets with chair Priyan Patel(Image: Watford and Rickmansworth Sea Cadets)

Workers tend to come when volunteers, who staff the cadets but have their own day jobs, are at work and cannot be on site or manning the phones to help them.

The 35-year-old chartered accountant, who has been involved in the Sea Cadets for 14 years, believes the error can be traced back to the disused Croxley Green Railway Station next door.

Watford and Rickmansworth Sea Cadets(Image: Watford and Rickmansworth Sea Cadets)

The Watford and Rickmansworth Railway station officially shut down in 2003 and he believes the postcode it shared with the cadets carried over to the village’s remaining station, despite it having a postcode of its own – WD3 3DD.

TfL staff at the underground station often set misdirected people on the right path, but this is not something the cadets can rely on.

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So they are calling on Royal Mail to move the postcode back to their base – and hope this filters through to mapping services like Google.

Mr Patel said: “If it can be corrected, we want our postcode back.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We ask any residents who have concerns about incorrect or missing address details to report it via our website – https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/update-your-address.

“We will review and respond as soon as possible.

“It is important to note that postcodes are designed to support the efficient sorting and delivery of mail, not to reflect geographic or administrative boundaries.

“Each one is based on the delivery route and local delivery office, which means a postcode may not always match the geographic identity of an area.”