THE TUC's proposal that today should be a Bank Holiday will find favour with many people. After all, who wants to be at work when they could be at home getting paid for doing nothing?

It has become something of a clich that the British worker toils for the longest hours in Europe, and that cannot be good for the worker or their family. It is probably not even any good for the employer, as a rested, contented worker performs better than one whose nose is wearing away at the grindstone.

But, do Bank Holidays really refresh and relax anyone?

It invariably rains on Bank Holidays. There are traffic jams on the quietest roads and there are huge queues snaking from shopping centre car parks.

After the road rage over the family parking spaces, the staff in shops and restaurants snarl rather than serve, irritated that they are at work when everyone else is off, and aggravated by customers who keep changing their minds.

And the wait for food is so long that your stomach has digested itself by the time it arrives, and by constantly shouting "be quiet", dad has made far more noise than the children. At least everyone is sitting silently - stewing indignantly in a huff.

And this is before the agony of the binmen kicks in, as they alter their collection day and turn up totally unannounced which means that you're left with a fortnight's worth of garbage blowing around the back yard because next door's cat has punctured the plastic bag in its search for a rotting chicken carcass.

Is it worth it? In a modern world where choice is the buzzword - you can choose your school, choose your doctor, choose the most convenient time for the consultant of your choice to perform the operation of your choice upon you - surely it is anathema for people to be forced to take the same days off each year?

Rather than introducing more Bank Holidays, wouldn't it be better for all of them to be scrapped and people given more choice about the days most convenient to them - and, indeed, their employer - for some time off?