4 NOVEMBER 1978, Page 17

Postcodes

Sir: Geoffrey Wheatcroft rightly complains of the stupefying complication of the postcodes. I wonder, however, whether it is really necessary to use the shift key when tYPing them.

Perhaps, if they are (as he tells us) only used by cryptographers converting them into 'machine readable language', a letter addressed to the Post Office at ecl a 1. h9 would reach its destination as soon as if it had been labelled EC1 A 1HQ. There must he someone at that address who could confirm whether Post Office doctrine would allow this. I hope he will write to yO u and tell us so. Timothy Duford Brooks's Club, London SW1