By Mark Baber
June 20- Media stories about employees taking time off work because of the World Cup, which began with stories in the Chinese media of fake sick notes being sold to Chinese fans, were eagerly picked up by Western media for their interest value have now returned home with evidence the UK economy will be taking a hit from yesterday’s England-Uruguay game.
Whilst stories about fake sick notes being sold in China around the 2010 World Cup were considered dubious, articles in the Chengdu Business Daily and China News around this year’s World Cup have been substantiated by a number of journalists managing to purchase themselves official-looking sick notes for a variety of ailments.
Doctors notes are being sold on Taobao, for between 10 yuan for a day and 300 yuan (£28.50) for the whole tournament and include fake certificates purporting to be from the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Shenzhen No 3 People’s Hospital and Chengdu No 2 People’s Hospital and one of the class A hospitals in Nanjing.
The selling of fake sick notes is, of course, illegal in China and at least one unhappy customer has complained at losing his job when his ruse was discovered.
The market has arisen as, according to Beijing time, 24 games have a 12 o’clock in the evening kickoff, 10 games kick off at 3 o’clock in the morning, 19 games at 4 o’clock in the morning, 10 games at 6 o’clock in the morning, only 1 in 9 o’clock in the morning.
Meanwhile, a survey by bookmakers Ladbrokes indicates almost 3.5 million fans (1 in 10 of the working population) are expected to take today off in the UK, where sick notes are generally not required. The mass “sickie,” in the wake of the game against Uruguay, is estimated to cost companies £350 million and largely be due to hang-overs, exacerbated by an alcohol price war in the build up to the World Cup.
A spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry commented: “We are sure employers will take a common-sense approach to the World Cup and be flexible about staff working different hours or watching the big matches at work. However, there will always be some jobs where this simply isn’t possible.”