Widow told of own death by post

Widowed pensioner Joyce Anslow was stunned when she received a letter asking relatives to settle her electricity account after her unfortunate death.

But the Black Country woman is not the only resident in her street who has fallen victim to a postcode mix-up. There has been confusion over gas, electricity and telephone bills because of the similarity of flat numbers at warden-controlled Netherton Lodge and other house numbers in Simms Lane, which is based in Netherton, Dudley.

It means that when residents in the sheltered accommodation have died, letters have been sent to the wrong people about their deaths because accounts have been switched in error.

The mix-up has led to phones being disconnected and electricity and gas accounts transferred to other providers causing residents the headache of sorting out the mess.

Mrs Anslow, aged 67, said the electricity demand, addressed to ‘Executors Mrs J Anslow’, had come as a shock, she said.

“I had a letter come through saying: ‘Sorry you’re leaving us’. Then I had another come through saying sorry that I was deceased,” she said.

“I phoned someone up and said: ‘Do I sound dead to you? Apparently I am’. It really does disturb you.”

It is not the only case of mistaken identity Mrs Anslow has suffered.

Her phone was disconnected for nine days after a similar problem.

A 65-year-old neighbour, who did not want to be named, said she had received several letters confirming her electricity supply would be transferred to another provider despite the fact she did not want to switch.

Residents have had enough and want the postcode to Netherton Lodge to be changed but for that to happen, all 39 of the home’s residents need to agree.

Councillor Mahbubur Rahman, who is the ward member for Netherton, Woodside and St Andrew’s, is backing the cause and says council officers are looking into the possibility of changing the postcode.

He went on to say: “It is a strange problem but residents are getting so fed up with this. It has to be resolved somehow.”