The tally of public incompetence

Every year around 2,000 people injure themselves through over-exertion while shopping

Workers claiming fraudulent sick days cost companies £3.5bn annually

Each year 1,200 people seriously injure themselves falling off a ladder

Anti-social behaviour (such as littering, street drinking and noise making) costs councils £3.4bn a year

More than one million motorists drive on the road without insurance

People throw away 6.7m tonnes of food every year

Eight million workers have failed to arrange a pension

Each year 365,000 people are caught dodging their TV licences

Householders fail to get a quarter of all domestic building projects finished on time or on budget

13.5m GP appointments are missed every year, costing the NHS £162m

Every year over 4,000 people injure themselves while making a sandwich

A third of parents take no interest in their children's diet

Every year over 4,000 people injure themselves while making a sandwich

3.5m adults are permanently overdrawn on their bank balances

A fifth of adults have trouble with basic reading and arithmetic

Every year patients fail to take £800m worth of drugs they have been prescribed

More than half of the 30m calls to 999 made yearly are not, in fact, emergencies

Every year, 900,000 people fail to complete their self-assessment tax returns on time

27 per cent of British adults still believe Diana, Princess of Wales, was murdered.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 21, 2008