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The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode. [1] There are currently 121 geographic postcode areas in use in the UK and a further three often combined with these covering the Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man.
A group of postcode districts with the same alphabetical prefix is called a postcode area. All, or part, of one or more postcode districts are grouped into post towns. [1] Until 1996, Royal Mail required counties to be included in addresses, except for 110 of the larger post towns.
For the purposes of directing mail, the United Kingdom (although the populations listed just show figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland), is divided by Royal Mail into postcode areas. The postcode area is the largest geographical unit used and forms the initial characters of the alphanumeric UK postcode . [ 1 ]
Royal Mail (1999). Address Management Guide (6th ed.). "Royal Mail major recode historical information – 2000 to September 2011" (PDF). Royal Mail. 3 November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2017
The full delivery address including postcode can be validated against the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF), which lists 29 million valid delivery addresses, [27] constituting most (but not all) addresses in the UK. [28] A regular expression for validating UK postcodes is specified in the British Standards document BS 7666. [29]
The Royal Mail ceased to use postal counties as a means of sorting mail following the modernisation of their optical character recognition equipment in 1996. Instead, using postcode defined circulation, the outward code (first half) of the postcode is used to differentiate between like-sounding post towns.
The Postcode Address File (PAF) is a database that contains all known "delivery points" and postcodes in the United Kingdom.The PAF is a collection of over 29 million Royal Mail postal addresses and 1.8 million postcodes. [1]
English: Labelled map of Royal Mail postcode areas of the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies with insets for Manchester and London conurbations, together with former postal counties. Equirectangular projection with latitude stretching 170%, WGS84 datum. Geographic limits: Main 1:5,000,000 map: West: 11.00W; East: 2.20E; North: 61.00N; South ...