JUST when you'd got used to being 01904 on the phone instead of 0904 ... the Royal Mail has now confirmed that postcodes in the York area will change from April.

Full details of the shake-up first revealed in the Evening Press have now been set out, showing that as well as York and surrounding villages, parts of Selby, Bridlington, Malton and Driffield will also be affected. News of the changes sparked worries last year about the impact on businesses and the cost of amending addresses on official stationery.

Royal Mail said today it was allowing a year for the total of 150,000 homes and businesses to get used to the change, as its machines will accept new or old codes until April 1999.

The undertaking will be arranging postcode roadshows next month to explain the new codes, and will contact all affected households and businesses in the next few weeks. A phone inquiries line has also been set up on 01904 617373.

Like BT's extra digit in the phone code, the change has come about because the Royal Mail is running out of codes - 12,000 new postcodes will be created when it comes into effect.

If your code starts YO1, YO2, YO3, YO4, YO5 or YO6, it will change on April 6, as will some codes starting YO8, YO16, YO17 and YO25.

Though the YO prefix will remain, some codes will gain an extra digit, with certain parts of the YO1 area, for example, becoming YO10.

Others will keep the same format but one digit will change. The postcode for the Evening Press, for example, will change from YO1 1YN to YO1 9YN.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "It allows us to have more capability with our machinery. We're looking to the future and ensuring we have enough codes for the new Millennium."

But Stan Hardy, chairman of the Yorkshire Ridings branch of the Institute of Directors said: "It would've been nice to have had a bit of notice. We've had changes of phone number and postcode and business always foots the bill. We'd like a little more notice when people have a great idea."

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