Red letter day as Royal Mail admits Humberside doesn’t exist

Royal Mail announced it would drop the name Humberside from its postal database - nearly 20 years after it ceased to exist as a county.

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart, who has been trying to get rid of the name for the past four years, hailed the red letter day as a victory for residents who he said were “irritated and exasperated” by the continued use of the old name on postal and online order forms.

He said: “I spent years battling Royal Mail behind the scenes, coming to grips with why they couldn’t simply remove the outdated county names from the data they sell to their customers. My conclusion was that they could do so easily. They countered by saying their customers liked using the old county names for logistics purposes. I didn’t buy that for a minute.”

Mr Stuart said Royal Mail’s change of heart followed a meeting at his office with its chief executive Moya Greene.

Beverley resident David Toulman said: “This is good news for residents of East Yorkshire. It’s ludicrous that we should continue to be addressed as a county that no longer exists. I’m pleased to hear that Royal Mail have finally got the message after eighteen years to correct an obsolete address and am looking forward to receiving mail addressed to East Yorkshire in the future.”

Stephen Parnaby, leader of East Riding council, said: “This is great news for the East Riding and its identity. This has been an issue which many of our residents have felt strongly about and it’s a shame that it has taken nearly 20 years to resolve.”

The county of Humberside was created in 1974 during a reorganisation of local government boundaries, and incorporated areas north and south of the Humber that had previously been part of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. But the new name was never popular and in 1996 it was scrapped and the area divided into the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire.

However, the name lives on in the titles of the local police force, fire brigade and BBC radio station.