Staff absence levels soar following Manchester United loss in the Champions League final

According to AlldayPA, which operates an outsourced absence line for 23,000 UK business, the number of employees calling in sick this morning was eight times the number of calls on an average Thursday. In the North West, the spike was almost tenfold.

Gemma Harding, communications manager at AlldayPA, said: "We often see absences peak on Fridays and Mondays or the Tuesday after a bank holiday, particularly when the weather has been good, but it is unusual to see a spike like this on a Thursday. An unusually high volume of calls has been coming in since 6am today."

Last night Manchester United lost 2-0 to Barcelona in the final of the UEFA Champions League.

"The only factor we can attribute it to is the fact that many football fans would have been out watching last night's football match and perhaps stayed up commiserating. The fact the number of calls was higher in the North West would seem to support this theory," said Harding.