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Now, I've written time and time again about the need to get yourself down to your local optician as regularly as possible. It is recommended that you look to get an eye MOT every 12 months so as to catch any visual deterioration, sight issues or more serious eye related conditions, but the urge is not to wait over 24 months in between tests. On top of that it is well documented that we should make sure that children are particularly well checked up as even minor untreated eye conditions can result in stunted learning and poor development during the most important educational years. If the powers that be had their way they would, quite rightly (I quip), march you down to the opticians every 12 months and make sure that you get your eyes checked as they watch over you. In this case we don't live in such a strict dictatorial state and as such isn't likely to happen. Although in one case in Devon recently it seems that the reverse was actually occurring when a young mother took her children for their eye tests at their local Tesco store.
At this point, and with legalities very much on my mind, I would like to point out that in no way, shape or form did Tesco play any part in this particularly disastrous PR display. Tesco Optician was in fact just the scene for the incident which left mum Laura and her two daughters upset, and in the case of the former angry as police officers demanded to know why her children where not in school during normal schooling hours and suggested that they were in fact playing truant. In a bizarre occurrence, mum Laura, who had the permission of her childrens school to take them out of lessons for their recommended eye tests, was quizzed by officers in front of a shop full of customers, leaving the Devonshire mother feeling embarrassed as she defended herself. To make matters even worse, for the police I might add, the trip for their eye test had been recommended by one of the young girls teachers due to concerns regarding her sight in lessons. As such, both girls were taken for a routine examination.
Following Laura Young's complaint regarding her treatment by officers inside the store, Devon and Cornwall Police have confirmed that they are aware of the incident but while not commenting on it individually, stated that a county wide stance had been taken recently to lower truancy levels.