The weird ways in which firms avoid bills

Disorganised accounts departments are partly to blame

When it comes to avoiding paying a bill, some firms, it seems, will go to any lengths.

Excuses given by firms for non-payment of debt range from the mundane to the outright strange, the Credit Services Association (CSA) the debt recovery industry body said.

The more frequent excuses are less exotic more to do with cashflow or inefficient accounts departments

Ken Waters, president, CSA

The survey of 160 CSA members found that common excuses such as the "finance director off sick" or the firm "waiting for payment from debtors" were still commonplace.

However, some of the excuses offered were at best obscure and at worst simply daft.

Car boot sale

One debt recovery firm reported that it had been told that a bill remained unpaid because the director was in Barbados and could not be disturbed.

Another reported that it had been told that it would receive payment only after the debtor had made enough money at a car boot sale.

Strange excuses

The cheque flew out of the car window onto the M25 motorway

The director is in Barbados and cannot be disturbed

The director has been detained by customs officials at the airport

Debtor needs to raise money at a car boot sale

Source: Credit Services Association (CSA)

Other debtors cited less bizarre reasons for non-payment, such as difficulties with converting to the euro and the falling stock market.

However, the most common excuse within the commercial sector was that the company is suffering financial problems.

"The more frequent excuses are less exotic more to do with cashflow or inefficient, disorganised accounts departments," Ken Waters, CSA president, told BBC News Online.