Third of Londoners are happy to 'pull a sickie'

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A survey of workers found 33 per cent of London employees occasionally phone in sick when they are not ill, compared with 19 per cent nationally. One worker in 12 said they did so at least three times a year, twice the national average.

Londoners also revealed attitudes to what justified a day at home, with 12 per cent saying a hangover made a sickie "fair game". Other reasons included "job hunting" (18 per cent) and "feeling tired" (12 per cent).

Bizarrely, some of the most common excuses cited elsewhere in Britain - "children off school sick" and "transport-problems/weather" - were considered less valid in London, where a Tube strike was not seen as a genuine excuse.

Employers are concerned about high levels of unauthorised absence and its effect on the economy. Gemma Camp of market research firm TNS, which carried out the poll, said: "We have seen a steady increase in employers taking practical measures to curb 'sickies'."

A separate survey this month from CBI and insurance group AXA found 12 per cent of the 172 million work days lost to absence were likely to be sickies, costing the economy about £1.6 billion.