Hangovers prompt the most employees to feign illness

A third of British workers said they believed it was alright to phone in sick, but more than half said they would be less likely to fake illness if their pay was being docked.

People living in Yorkshire, Humberside and the south west of England are more tempted to phone in sick after a drunken night (73%) compared with conscientious Londoners (52%) and employees in Scotland (56%), the survey by software company Crown Computing found.

Flexible working hours would deter a third of people from taking a day off, while 40% would think again if they knew their company was keeping a record of their absences.

Percentage of people likely to use a hangover as a sickie excuse Yorkshire and Humberside 73% South west 73% Wales 71% Midlands 69% North 63% North west 62% South east 61% East Anglia 59% Scotland 56% London 52%

However, 10% of the 1,000 people questioned said nothing would stop them pulling a sickie every so often if they felt like it.

Sick leave cost British industry �1.75 billion last year with many companies believing up to 15% of absences are not genuine, according to the survey last month by the CBI and AXA PPP healthcare.

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Managing director of Crown Computing Mike Hawkesford said: "Our findings and those of the CBI highlight that individuals need to be managed.

"While keeping an eye on absences can help identify trends and patterns among specific areas of a workforce, developing an understanding that you have a problem is not good enough.