To think that if the post office says a cheque should only take 3 days to clear..

[superstarheartbreaker]

then it bloody well should? Phoned up the bank today to ask why it hadn't and they told me it could take up to ten days. WHY LIE? I asked them at the post office if I would be better off taking my cheque into my bank branch and they said no it would take the same time.

Post office have given you duff information unfortunately - cheques used to have the money available in 3 working days, but could theoretically be returned unpaid at any point in the future so the money would be clawed back out of your account. It changed about 2-3 years ago, 2 days for you to see the money in your account, 4 days to be able to draw on it, 6 days to guarantee its cleared. 10 days will mean literally 10, rather than 10 working days. I'd complain about the post office worker who gave you very outdated info :)