SETTLEMENTS in Gloucestershire on the Forest side of the River Wye are still paying higher insurance premiums simply because their post is directed through Chepstow.

In October the Review first raised the issue of the plight of the villagers who had Newport postcodes – NP – rather than Gloucester GL ones.

Insurance companies use the postcodes, which they tie up with crime figures, to determine risks in particular areas which determines premium levels. Relatively crime-free West Gloucestershire has a crime rate far below that of Newport.

"My household contents premium would be some £21 cheaper if my postcode were GL instead of NP," Tutshill man John Powell said at the time.

Mr Powell, a local councillor, was attempting to get Royal Mail to change the postcodes of the affected villages to GL.

Mr Powell argued that because the simple codes were read by computerised sorting machines it would be easy for some GL numbers to be fed through Chepstow if logistics would not allow them to be delivered from Gloucester.

Following his unsuccessful bid however a reader from the same area sent a copy of our front page story to his insurer to ask if exceptions could be made to avoid overloaded premiums.

Mr Ray Mitchell of Sedbury said rather than delivering any thoughtful deliberation on the matter, a reply from his insurers stated baldly: "Postcodes are used when calculating a premium. However, these are obtained from the Post Office and we use the code that they advise. We therefore regret ... etc, etc."

It seemed neither the insurers not the Post office felt the matter was their responsibility.

And in the face of the inflexibility of the insurance underwriters, he believes a simple change by the Post Office would create no extra work, harm nobody, and make quite a lot of people pleased – and better off!