Issues with public transport ranked as the top reason UK employees gave for being late to work, according to human resources software firm BrightHR. Its software recorded 1,360 instances of lateness caused by public transport during November with 20% of workers citing it.

In second place was “being stuck in traffic” cited by 16% of workers, and third place was “slept in” or “slept through alarm” cited by 9%.

There were also unusual excuses for being late during November; they included: “Fixing their pet snake’s heating system” and having two change clothes after a bus driver purposely drove through a puddle to soak the worker.

Manchester was the city with the highest number of staff recorded as being late, and Bath was the city with the lowest amount of staff being recorded as late.

“At BrightHR, we advise employers that prevention is the best tactic when it comes to reducing employee lateness,” said Alastair Brown, chief technological officer at BrightHT. “Employers should ensure they have implemented an up-to-date policy regarding employee conduct and a procedure for notifying someone when an employee is going to be late.”

Brown continued, “however, honesty is the best policy when it comes to employees reporting lateness, as lying will reduce trust within the business, as one employer found out when it was logged that an employee said: ‘he had been stuck in traffic but he walked in with a McDonalds.’”