A builder claimed to revenue officials that he was too upset over his dead goldfish to file his tax return on time.

His case features in a list of the most 'bizarre and flimsy' excuses made to HM Revenue and Customs officials for filing late.

HMRC's head of personal tax, Ruth Owen, said: "There will always be unforeseen events that mean a taxpayer could not file their tax return on time.

"However, your pet goldfish passing away isn't one of them."

Also mentioned were a farmer recovering from a run-in with a cow and a woman too stunned after seeing a volcanic eruption on the TV news to concentrate on anything else.

Others included a trader whose wife allegedly refused to hand over the mail and a taxi driver with a bad back unable to climb upstairs to retrieve his form.

An actor in Coventry claimed he was too busy touring the country with his one-man play and a Kent financial services firm pleaded for leniency as it 'doesn't really do anything'.

Meanwhile, a man from the south-east said he was on a world cruise in his yacht and could only pick up his post on dry land.

And a London accountant told inspectors he had been too busy submitting his clients' tax returns to file his own.