AN investigation has been launched into allegations of overcharging and heavy-handed selling techniques in the funeral industry, the Office of Fair Trading announced yesterday.

The move comes in the wake of a television documentary this week which claimed to have uncovered unethical business practices including staff mistreating bodies and using occupied coffins as wastepaper baskets.

The inquiry has been welcomed by the National Association of Funeral Directors, which said it would ''enhance consumer faith'' in its professional members.

The Director General of Fair Trading, Mr John Bridgeman, said he had been ''increasingly disturbed'' by allegations about the #840m funeral industry, including those made in the Channel 4 Undercover Britain programme.

The inquiry will look at how the currently unregulated industry works, how much customers are being charged, and whether they are getting a fair deal.

It will investigate whether big companies are abusing their market power and whether ''aggressive selling techniques'' are being used to push customers into making more expensive arrangements.

Also under scrutiny will be links between funeral directors and crematoria. Mr Bridgeman also said action would be taken if he uncovered evidence of misleading advertisements or unfair contracts.

Mr Dom Maguire, Scottish spokesman for The National Association of Funeral Directors, said: ''We welcome any inquiry which will enhance consumer faith in the funeral profession. We have for some time asked for some sort of statutory framework to protect the emotionally vunerable at a critical time in their lives.''

The OFT funeral investigation was also given the backing of the Co-operative Funeral Service, the largest of the United Kingdom's 23 co-op funeral businesses.

Mr Sandy MacDonald, general manager of the group, which carries out 65,000 funerals each year, said: ''We have long been seeking regulation of the funeral sector. We hope the OFT inquiry will bring this closer and OFT can be assured of our full co-operation.''

One of the claims of the documentary was that customers could be misled as to whether funeral parlours were local family firms or owned by large chains.

The inquiry will focus on ''at need'' funerals, those paid for after a death. The OFT has already recommended better regulation of the pre-paid funeral industry following an earlier investigation.