After being caught in a compromising act with a vacuum cleaner, a building contractor came up with a novel excuse - he was, he says, just cleaning his underpants.

The man, who worked at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London, was supposed to be locking up the the building site where his firm is refurbishing administration offices. A stunned security guard stumbled upon him, finding him in the middle of a compromising act with the cleaner, Henry, which has a large smiley face painted on its front and a hose protruding from its "nose".

When later questioned by his employers, the man, who is Polish, said he was vacuuming his underpants, which is, apparently, "a common practice in Poland". In his defense, the blurb on Henry the Hoover's website does say that he's ready to go time and time again.

The Telegraph