Joe Ayling: Capita payments issue beyond a joke

There has been much frustration on the Optician news desk this week about the level of press exposure certain optical stories attract.

While many of the real issues affecting the nation’s eye health go unreported, a Specsavers Healthcall vehicle crashing into a lamppost was last week deemed breaking news.

Yes, the driver was an eye care professional and, yes, Liverpool City Council joked they were ‘on sight’ to fix the car. But you would not necessarily expect such an occurrence to reach dozens of news outlets, including BBC News and the Daily Telegraph, with most going with predictable slogan-induced headlines that at times like these work both for and against Specsavers.