Chris Bennett: Putting everyone in the shade

Silly season sunglass stories have blazed back into the newspapers as the sun continues to shine and Britain basks in its longest heatwave since the summer of ’76.

Last Monday’s Sun online will have raised many optician’s hopes with the news that drivers face a £2,500 fine and nine points on their licence for not wearing sunglasses. Further reading, and the reality, inevitably didn’t quite match up. What started off as a positive story about avoiding glare behind the wheel ended in a rabbit warren of ifs and buts plus a counter warning that wearing sunglasses with too heavy a tint could also land you with a massive fine. Sadly it was this second point picked up and syndicated to regional news outlets around the UK.