"Let whoever has never needed a small alibi for their little fibs cast the first stone!" The welcoming comment on the company website sets the tone. Suffocating in the family pressure-cooker and need some air? In the midst of a "passing adventure" but don't want to jeopardise your marriage? Then Alibila claims to have the answer.

The company is France's first agency for adulterers who don't want to be found out. It provides alibis for a range of other situations, but acknowledges that its clients are often men who "need a little freedom".

Among the first on Alibila's books was a man who wanted to join his mistress on a tropical island without his wife suspecting. A fake wedding invitation from a distant cousin did the trick.

Nineteen euros buys a phone call to the matrimonial home. Thus when Geraldine, a driving-school boss, received a call supposedly from a pupil in need of an urgent lesson, her husband carried on watching TV blissfully unaware that she was off to catch up with an old flame.

Fifty euros, and the fun and games can become more elaborate, covering papers and postage, or contriving fake events. "But hang on, we never deliver forged documents," the agency's director, Regine Mourizard, warned in Le Parisien. "We provide for our clients only those elements necessary to help them organise their private lies."

Will Alibila find a ready market for its services? While the French - not least their politicians - have a reputation for serial adultery, one survey found that only 3.8 per cent of married men and 2 per cent of women had more than one sexual partner in the previous year.

For those who are tempted (go to www.alibila.com), the company warns that customers wishing to cheat on their partners do so at their own risk. And there are no refunds if the alibi doesn't work.