Queuing times are getting longer

IT TAKES twice as long to reach the front of a queue as it did two years ago, a new survey has revealed.

In the Europe-wide poll, researchers in 24 countries were asked to join queues in businesses and services, including banks, grocery stores, travel ticket offices and fast food outlets.

They found on average it takes just over ten minutes to reach the front of a queue — twice the time taken in 2008.

The survey, organised by the European branch of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA), saw researchers assess 2,000 different queues.

They also found on average post offices had the longest queues, as well as the most dissatisfied customers, closely followed by banks.

According to the poll, Russia had the longest and slowest queues on average, though the Bulgarian passport office was found to have the slowest queue, taking six hours to process just 36 customers.

As well as reporting on the time taken to get to the front of the queue, researchers assessed the response from the member of staff when they got there, discovering that only half could manage a smile.

Belgium and Ireland came top of the "smiles league", and clothing stores came top for best quality of service.

According to the results, the top of the list for queuing times was Sweden — with an average of two minutes. Also in the Top 10 were Denmark, Spain and the UK, at three minutes.

In a top ten of the worst offenders for queuing, post offices topped the table, with average queues of 19 minutes, followed by banks at 18 mins. Department stores were also high on the list at 11 mins, followed by railway stations at eight minutes.

But at the bottom of the table, with much smaller queues, were clothes shops, with an average of four minutes, and bus stations, with a wait of 3.45 minutes.

Julian Chamberlain, managing director of UK mystery shopping company Retail Active, an MSPA member, said Britain also fell into the top five of countries in a table of overall customer satisfaction, including the way people are treated by staff.

He said: "This is a fascinating piece of research and demonstrates the value of mystery shopping in helping businesses to discover the way in which customers experience shopping.

"Retail Active's experience in the UK fully supports the comments of MSPA president Cristiani Oliveira that the survey indicates that in difficult times for retailers, lowering standards may be having a detrimental effect on customer service.

"In terms of overall performance the UK came out well.."

The top five countries by queuing time:

Sweden - 2 mins

Denmark - 2 mins 40 secs

UK - 3 mins

Spain - 3 mins

Estonia - 3 mins 30 secs

The top ten worst offenders:

Post office - 19 mins

Bank - 18 mins

Department store - 11 mins

Train station - 8 mins

Supermarket - 6 mins

Pharmacy - 5 mins

Off-licence - 4 mins 30 secs

Fast food - 4 mins 30 secs

Clothing store - 4 mins

Bus station - 3 mins 45 secs