I always try to maximise postal information rather than minimise, to reduce chance of error, given in my case I have many opportunities for people to make mistakes, e.g.:
- I have someone with the same first name and same last name at the same house number on the adjacent street.
- There is another street with the same name in the same city (although it is a different postcode).
- There was someone with the same surname and first initial in another flat in my block.
On that last point, it has been a particular bone of contention that the Post Office insist on identical postal addresses in their Postcode Address File (PAF) for different flats which share the same letter box. I always specify my flat number where I can to ensure I am uniquely identified (which is important for identity documents, financial information, insurance etc.), but in systems which use the PAF with no manual override I can't, which has led to all sorts of issues over the years, e.g.
- Unable to transfer an ISA because my old and new details didn't match.
- Had a former neighbour successfully set up a postal redirect for all flats in the block not just their own, meaning all my post, including bills, bank statements, a renewed driving licence which I happened to apply for at the time, basically everything you'd need for comprehensive identity theft, was redirected to someone else for several months with no-one able to do anything about it.
Apparently the only (absurd) workaround to get a unique entry in the PAF would be to physically install another letterbox in the same door (leading to the same floor).
I once sent a parcel to a friend and put “England, UK. Earth. Solar System. (Etc)” at the end of the address and it arrived at his house with “don’t take the piss” scribbled on it in red marker.
- I have someone with the same first name and same last name at the same house number on the adjacent street.
- There is another street with the same name in the same city (although it is a different postcode).
- There was someone with the same surname and first initial in another flat in my block.
On that last point, it has been a particular bone of contention that the Post Office insist on identical postal addresses in their Postcode Address File (PAF) for different flats which share the same letter box. I always specify my flat number where I can to ensure I am uniquely identified (which is important for identity documents, financial information, insurance etc.), but in systems which use the PAF with no manual override I can't, which has led to all sorts of issues over the years, e.g.
- Unable to transfer an ISA because my old and new details didn't match.
- Had a former neighbour successfully set up a postal redirect for all flats in the block not just their own, meaning all my post, including bills, bank statements, a renewed driving licence which I happened to apply for at the time, basically everything you'd need for comprehensive identity theft, was redirected to someone else for several months with no-one able to do anything about it.
Apparently the only (absurd) workaround to get a unique entry in the PAF would be to physically install another letterbox in the same door (leading to the same floor).