A Good Egg in time for Easter
Some bureaucrats lose touch with reality and believe that their bureaucracy is an end in itself. When we sold Leeward and moved onto Gecko we established the PO Box in Bath for correspondence. This did generate some entertainment for us as various bodies tried to come to terms with a concept that half the world's population seem to accept quite readily. Two organisations in particular excelled in their response. John Lewis credit card which we had been using for many years decided that it was "safer" to send our statements to an address that they knew we did not live at than to send them the the PO Box. As a result we had to close the account and when I asked where we should send the settlement cheque they said "PO Box 99, Southend"!!
DVLA Swansea had another angle. To change the address of a driving licence they required a street address "to prove residency" They said, however, we could use a relative's address, or indeed any address. So why would they not accept 10 Downing Street? Whilst insisting that we give them any street address they would not admit that this implied they were happy to accept a false one. The logic of this escaped me.
Last week Margaret applied to renew her passport and the lady at Peterborough Passport Office really put herself out to make the bureaucracy work for us. So if anyone out there knows Joyce of Passport Office Peterborough please give her a big cheer from us.