MEDIA CENTRE

Yet, with some two-million emails sent globally every second it's no wonder that most of us have, at some time, forgotten our 'netiquette' and committed an email faux pas that has ended up causing offence, embarrassment, annoyance or worse.

The UK's leading online provider of commercial office space, officebroker.com, has compiled a list some of the most embarrassing email blunders it has come across:

• A Business Manager accidentally sent details of all his employees' salary on a company group email. Realising his error, he set the fire alarm off to clear the office before going round and deleting the email from every inbox.
• Following a sick day, an employee who sent an email to a friend explaining his illness was due to 'class A's'. Unfortunately, he sent it to everyone in his company including the senior management. He now works elsewhere!
• A company included 24,000 email addresses in the 'To' box of a message. Many intended recipients probably never got to the actual message because it took them so long to scroll down to it!
• An IT professional unwittingly managed to 'out' a pal to his family. Having received a chatty group email from his mate who had moved to New York, he replied suggesting it would be a great opportunity for him to find himself a new man - only he had hit 'Reply to All', thus revealing his friend's hidden sexuality to his nearest and dearest!
• A police officer who sent an email to her colleagues asking: "who stole my yoghurt out of the fridge?" Unfortunately she accidentally sent the email to the entire West Midlands police force and received many a reply including.... "Do you need CID? Have you sealed off the area? Has the dog unit been called?"