MOST customers are not sold the correct products when they go into Post Offices, according to research.

In addition, one in ten have to wait in a queue for at least ten minutes.

Shopping visits by researchers to 302 offices showed that only 40 per cent were offered the most appropriate service.

Special deliveries, which start at £3.75, were only sold to one in seven researchers but could have been offered in 67 per cent of cases, said consumer group Postwatch and the industry's regulator, Postcomm.

Royal Mail said it put a huge effort into making sure the right services were offered to customers, saying it was not simply a case of selling the most expensive products.

A spokesman said millions of extra customers were using post offices and research for the organisation showed that most people were satisfied with the service.

l Royal Mail received better news yesterday with the announcement that chairman Allan Leighton has been re-appointed by the Government for another three years.

Mr Leighton's two-day-a-week contract expires in March, but he will now continue in the post until 2008.

Mr Leighton, who also holds directorships at bhs, BskyB and Weston Holdings, said the next three years would be about real competition in the postal industry as more companies bid to deliver post.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said Mr Leighton and his team had done an excellent job in turning a £1m-a-day loss-making business into a £1m-a-day profitable company.