A postcode prankster has been trying to trick unsuspecting Mitcham residents into thinking they had unwittingly moved to Tooting.
A letter sent to residents, purportedly from the council, announced to horrified homeowners that a number of roads would no longer be part of the CR4 district in Surrey and instead change to Tooting’s SW17.
The hoax correspondence, supposedly dated October 1, was even emblazoned with the council’s logo, address and signed by a fake employee.
Residents were told that all major companies and government agencies had been informed of the change, but were encouraged to tell small businesses of their new address via online service iammoving.com.
If muddled Mitchams had signed up to this, more than 1,500 organisations would have received news of the alteration, leading to some seriously perplexed posties!
The practical jokers wrote in the letter: “This change is down to our continued efforts at improving areas within the borough and we hope that this will cause you the minimum amount of inconvenience.”
Merton Council have flatly denied any involvement with the mysterious messages and said: “It is not from the council and there is no truth behind it.”
Had the people of Mitcham really woken up in Tooting this month they would have found their house prices almost doubled as the average cost of a house in Mitcham is £265,236 compared to Tooting’s £530,433.
The roads targeted for the ‘change’ were:
- Pitcairn Road
- Fleming Mead
- North Place
- Alexandra Road
- Tudor Place
- Waldo Place
- Victoria Road
- Taylor Road
- Island Road
- Friday Road
- Crusoe Road
- Kenmare Drive
- Dovedale Rise.
Those living at these addresses are advised to ignore the letter and continue living comfortably in Surrey.
Featured picture courtesy of Christopher Read, with thanks
