HAMPSHIRE council bosses are threatening to ban workers from using the Facebook social networking site.

The authority said it had noticed an increase in use and during monitoring 46 district and county council employees were found to have spent more than an hour on the site.

The county employs 39,000 people.

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The campaign group Taxpayers Alliance said workers were “wasting” taxpayers money.

At present, employees are allowed to use the site during breaks.

Council leader Cllr Ken Thornber, said: "Staff are reminded of Internet usage policies forbidding the use of such sites for anything other than business purposes during normal working hours. The County Council continue to monitor the situation.”

Kent County Council has already banned its 44,000 employees from using social networking sites.