Belgium is only supposed to be famous for three things: Hercule Poirot, the Smurfs and I’ve forgotten the third.

Wait, I’ll look it up. Oh, are there that many? Chocolate, Stella Artois, Tintin, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Brussels sprouts and the habit of dipping chips in mayonnaise. Have they never heard of salt and vinegar?

What Belgians are not famous for is their sense of humour and yet they have been credited with inventing the new sport of IKEA hide and seek.

Apparently people hide in furniture, under beds and even in the big blue shopping bags, which could give the unwary lady customer a fright at the check-out if she found a hairy young man inside along with four scented candles, two scatter cushions and a frame for that nice photograph of Aunt Mabel taken at Skegness last year.

“I don’t remember him being on special offer? Mind you, he is rather nice. How much is he?”

Of course, in Belgium you could end up with David Suchet or a Smurf. There aren’t blue bags big enough for Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Anyone who has been to an IKEA store can see the possibilities for hide and seek. It was rumoured that when they opened their first store in Japan, soldiers hiding since the Second World War were found in the potted plant section.

The very first time I ventured inside the Leeds store 20 years ago I lost my wife Maria. This is not difficult. I lost her on honeymoon on the London Underground when she stepped on to a tube train while I was still working out the route.

“Get off at the next station and wait,” I shouted through the glass, as her panicked face disappeared from view. Fortunately she did and I found her 20 minutes later at Mornington Crescent. She’s been getting lost ever since but I always find her.

I’m beginning to wonder whether she is actually making breaks for freedom. Of course, it’s easy to get lost in IKEA, whether you are hiding from someone or looking for a bath mat. The attraction of the store is that it contains so many goods you are guaranteed to discover items you never knew you needed.

The idea of a mass hide and seek was organised on Facebook in Belgium last year and spread across Europe. At first, IKEA managers accepted it as good fun and good business: it brought more people into the store and, even when playing the game, they would inevitably find something to buy.

But now they are imposing a ban with the latest being planned for next month in Amsterdam (yes, it has spread to Holland as well).

It seems to have got out of hand with around 19,000 promoting it on Facebook.

An IKEA spokesman said: “We need to make sure people are safe and that’s hard if we don’t know where they are.” Which is, of course, the purpose of the game. I’ll bet they still allow it in Belgium, which is now also famous for its sense of fun.