One in three football-crazy English workers will be truant during FIFA WC

London, May 30 (ANI): Truancy levels at the workplace are going to rise in football-crazy Britain because fans would want to catch their team in action. Experts have projected losses worth millions with productivity slumping due to the absenteeism.

One in seven Brits plan to pull a sickie during England matches, according to research by digital set-box company Humax.

According to News of The World, most of England's South African games start at 7.30pm, but the Slovenia match is at 3pm on Wednesday June 23. But one in five UK employees work outside the normal 9 to 5, so will have to pull sickies if they want to catch the late games.

And a further 15 per cent will book the time off as holiday, leaving the workforce understaffed.

A spokesman from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said: "It's not fair on employers or colleagues if staff simply phone in ill." (ANI)