Not losing enough weight before a trip and fear of becoming “too Spanish” are among reasons for people postponing holidays, says a survey in Britain.

From time to time we do get the occasional excuse which is slightly on the humorous side

One family cancelled a Turkish break because their three children had been “misbehaving tremendously and did not deserve to go”, the survey by travel agency www.sunshine.co.uk found.

One woman even abandoned her holiday plans as she had achieved a “really good fake tan” and no longer needed to go away to sunbathe.

Another wanted to postpone her visit for three months as she had not lost enough weight to look good in a bikini.

And another female holidaymaker said she wanted to move her trip because she would miss a Big Brother series on TV.

One man due to head to Spain wished to cancel as he had dreamed that he became “too Spanish” after visiting the country.

Chris Brown, co-founder of sunshine.co.uk, said: “Normally, customers have genuine reasons for why they need to cancel their holiday or move the date of it, but from time to time we do get the occasional excuse which is slightly on the humorous side.

“We particularly liked the family who asked about cancelling due to their kids having misbehaved.”