So what are the most unusual excuses given by workers to explain their tardiness? In no particular order, employers shared the following true examples:

• Employee said there was a bank robbery in front of his house
• Employee was concerned about an impending comet impact
• Employee reported that a horse jumped over a hedge straight on top of her car
• Employee’s cat was stuck in the cat flap
• Employee’s house was on fire
• Employee’s car was blocked in by a stolen car and the police were taking fingerprints
• Employee had difficulty adjusting to the climate change from winter to summer
• Employee said someone moved his teeth
• Employee said: “I always leave at the same time. Sometimes I’m late, sometimes I’m not. I can’t figure it out.”

Quite tempting to use the horse jumping on a car one… All classics in their own right. Unless, of course, (in true Esther Rantzen That’s Life! style) you know differently.