THEY might be thousands of miles apart and strikingly different in appearance, but the Royal Mail has managed to confuse Fifth Avenue in York with Fifth Avenue NEW York.

Irene Stoner, resident of the Tang Hall, York, version, recently received a letter that should instead have been delivered in downtown Manhattan.

And the wayward mail wasn't addressed to any old New Yorker.

Instead, it was addressed to Paul Newman, leaving Irene wondering if it was the Paul Newman.

She said: "I'm not sure if it can be him or not. I am a big fan of his, I always have been.

"It would be funny if he is getting my mail. I hope he's getting some of it, I get that much junk mail it would be nice for some of it to go somewhere else."

Irene, who has lived in Fifth Avenue for 15 years, said she gets "two or three" letters a year that should have been delivered in the United States.

If she was to move to a two-bedroom corner house in the Carnegie Hill part of Fifth Avenue, New York, she would have to find 2.9 million dollars, about £1.9m.

A three-bedroom semi in Tang Hall is currently on the market for just under £95,000.

While in New York, Irene could shop at the famous Saks department store, or 225, the oldest gift store in America.

But who needs to shop there when there is the popular parade of shops in Tang Hall Lane, including a branch of Thomas, the award winning bakers?

And while New York's Fifth Avenue boasts the luxurious Clarion Hotel, just down the road from Irene's home, in Fourth Avenue, is the Tang Hall Hotel.

Relief landlady Jean Powell said: "I've only been here a week. But I'm sure our customers are very happy, I don't think they'd want to swap for anything."

Irene felt the same way, adding: "I think it would be a bit scary, I wouldn't like to live there. I'm quite happy here, thank you."

Updated: 11:51 Tuesday, August 27, 2002