A Sidmouth man has published a collection of short stories about unexpected incidents overseas, based on his own travels around the world.

Tall Tales from Afar is a collection of 19 stories about cultural misunderstandings and surprise encounters in other countries.

They touch upon different countries’ approaches to religion and the law, and how failing to understand local business customs can have un-planned-for consequences.

The tales are fictional, but they were inspired by people their author Michael Roe met in other parts of the world and anecdotes they told him.

They include accounts of a Chinese man wrongly imprisoned for murder, a British couple’s humiliation during a bridge tournament in Peru, the acquisition of a valuable carpet in Afghanistan, a man’s attempt to buy a special present for a friend in Panama, and an 18-year-old student’s adventures in Grenoble.

Other stories are set in the USA, Mexico, Italy, the Caribbean, Australia, Bahrain – and the UK, where one tale revolves around an American businessman’s encounter with a London taxi driver.

Michael, now retired, worked in finance in many countries around the world, with placements lasting between one month and three years.

He said: “When travelling with my work I had many unusual experiences meeting people I would never otherwise have known and learning a great deal about other cultures and peoples.”

He added that while many of the stories are amusing, they have a serious point: “We live in a globalised world, but while we can buy almost anything from anywhere, we still fail to appreciate how other people live their lives.”

In many of the stories, people are caught out by their own presumptions or preconceptions about those they meet while travelling, shopping, socialising or negotiating a business deal. Often their intentions are the best, but they still find themselves in awkward situations.

Most of the tales are just a few pages long, and Michael said he hopes readers will enjoy dipping into the book when they have a few minutes to spare.

He has previously written another collection of stories called Tall Tales for Travellers, also dealing with unusual experiences abroad.

Tall Tales from Afar is available from Amazon, priced at £3.49 for the e-book and £6.99 for the paperback, ISBN 9781800942356.