Three people living in Hendy, Fforest and Llanedi in South Wales have SA4 in their postal address would like it changed to SA14 in order to get a cheap car insurance quote. The villages in which they live are in rural Carmarthenshire and not in Swansea as the postcode suggests. They are fed up of paying higher car insurance premiums because of car crime in Swansea and are protesting that their nearest town is in fact Llanelli which has a lower rate of car crime.
William James, a Carmarthenshire councillor, said: "When the Post Office initiated the postcode it was for sorting letters, but a lot of other people are now using it for a variety of uses such as calculating car insurance.
"We are not in Swansea but we have to pay the same rates.
"We don't want to be associated with a city where car crime is much higher. Carmarthenshire is a rural county and we should enjoy the benefits of a rural county."
Royal Mail has said however that it is unlikely to make a change to the postcode as, according to a spokesperson for the company: "Rather than providing an exact geographical description of the location of any given property, a postal address actually acts as a set of routing instructions."
People looking for a cheap car insurance quote should shop around for the best price. It is possible to counteract the postcode penalty by taking the time to find the best option. Many motorists can save as much as £140 by shopping round for a cheap car insurance quote.