Workers in the West Midlands have some of the worst deskside manners in the UK, a new survey has revealed.

Scotland is the capital of anti-social office behaviour but staff in the West Midlands are most likely to claim they have “forgotten” their wallets at an office whip-round.

They are also among the leading culprits for stealing a colleague’s stationery and taking credit for their work.

And nearly 40 per cent of people say they have caught a colleague letting someone else take the blame for their own mistakes.

The findings come from a survey commissioned by knockoffornot.com, a website set up to address the nation’s “Knock-Off Nigels” who download or buy knock-off films and TV shows and engage in other anti-social behaviour which impacts on friends or colleagues.

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The survey of 4,000 office workers found eight per cent admitted stealing toilet rolls from company conveniences, 11 per cent owned up to pocketing the occasional item of office stationery, and 18 per cent had caught staff sampling other people’s food from the company fridge.

More than 60 per cent of West Midlands workers said they had fallen victim to a colleague’s bad deskside manners in their career, and a quarter said they had sometimes had to work late due to a work companion not pulling their weight.

Six per cent of staff in the region also claimed to know of colleagues who used company computers to illegally do- wnload music and videos from the internet.

Website spokesman Kristen Lazur said: “Having a bad desk-side manner is a capital offence. Office Knock-Off Nigels are making the region a less fun place to work.”

* What’s the worst example of anti-social office behaviour you have witnessed? Is it unfair to bracket Shropshire in with the rest of the West Midlands, or is out county just as guilty?

E-mail newsroom@shropshirestar.co.uk with your stories.

By Carl Jones