Forget Friday the 13th - insurers say Monday the 27th is really the unluckiest day.

More people suffer mishaps when the 27th is a Monday than on any other day, insurers AA warn.

Their report, based on one million claims, dispels the myth that Friday the 13th is the date to fear most.

The firm's Kevin Sinclair said: "Friday the 13th is associated with bad luck.

"But records show you're more likely to have an accident or break something on Monday the 27th."

Monday the 27th disasters include a cat that started a house blaze by toppling a candle, and a man who put his foot through a ceiling while fetching Christmas decorations from his loft.

There have been two other months this year when the date has fallen on a Monday - in February and March. But the good news is the next is not until August 2007.

A 54-year-old Doncaster unfortunate - dubbed "Britain's unluckiest man" - has continued a lifelong tradition of mishaps by falling down a manhole, Ananova reports.

John Lyne, of Stainforth, near Doncaster suffered injuries to his back, left leg and both knees as a result of the tumble, and will be out of action for 32 weeks, according to the Doncaster Free Press.

Lyne's career began as a child, when he fell off a horse and cart and was run over by a delivery van. As a teenager, he fell from a tree and broke his arm. On his way home from hospital - on Friday 13th - the bus he was in crashed, provoking another fracture in the same arm.

Users of the drug crystal methamphetamine may be causing euro banknotes to disintegrate, German police have told Der Spiegel magazine.

Sulphates used in the production of the drug could form sulphuric acid when mixed with human sweat, they say, causing banknotes to corrode.

Drug users sniff powdered crystals through rolled up banknotes.

About 1,500 banknotes have crumbled after being withdrawn from cash machines, German banking officials say.