A sense of humour failure, we hear, prevailed among marketeers at opticians Specsavers after one of their branded cars hit a lamp-post in Liverpool. Newspapers looking for a witty response to the crash, in which no-one was hurt were treated to a terse statement of the facts from the usual anonymous “spokesman”.

The firm is famous for its humorous ads where people make mistakes because of poor vision and which carry the strapline “Should’ve gone to Specsavers”. So the photograph of the crashed car, with witty comments, flooded onto social media, and in the national press.

Examples included “What a spectacle” “Didn’t see that one coming” and “One in the eye for the opticians”.

Let’s hope someone at Specsavers has the vision and the insight to use the photo in a future witty ad. After all, we all like people who can laugh at themselves.