If you know your prescription, why not? Just as you can have your eye test carried out by one optician before buying glasses elsewhere, so you can take that piece of paper and buy prescription glasses online.

You might even save some money. People who don’t wear glasses are often surprised by the cost, but if your vision is poor you can easily expect to pay a couple of hundred quid when you factor in anti-reflective coatings and lens thinning on top of the cost of frames. If you need bi- or varifocals or chromatic lenses, expect that figure to rise still further.

Online retailers have fewer overheads, so you can often get cheaper glasses. Furthermore, some employers will often contribute towards the cost of eyewear if you work using a monitor for extended periods of time. However, be warned that these schemes can often be a little vague. You may be asked to find out the cost of a pair of NHS glasses and lenses, which might prove something of a tall order being as they haven’t existed since 1988.

Your optician may be able to provide you with an estimate of what might be a reasonable cost to try and claim based on the standard policies of other employers with similar policies.