About Southern Seas

Southern Seas Glasses is a UK company, which was founded by Dr Tony Brooks in Cambridge in 2013. The company is small, but growing fast, and already sends thousands of pairs of glasses a month to customers in the UK, the US and Europe. We are an online company, and as such, are not constrained by the high overheads incurred by bricks-and-mortar opticians. This allows us to pass the savings on to our customers.

Here at Southern Seas we are passionate about glasses. This passion informs our mission statement, which is: to provide affordable quality glasses for all. If you have any questions, or would like to know more, please feel free to contact us either by email at: info@southernseasglasses.co.uk

or in writing at: Southern Seas Trading Co. Ltd, Beech House, 4a Newmarket Rd, Cambridge, CB5 8DT, United Kingdom

Tony Brooks Founder of Southern Seas

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Almost all of our glasses are fitted to order using prescription grade lenses, which takes 2-3 working days*. This involves cutting, grinding, fitting, polishing, checking and machine testing the lenses.

Typically, rimless glasses take an extra 1-2 working days on top of this, owing to the complexity of fitting and drilling the lenses.

Shipping then takes a further 4-5 working days.

To mainland UK addresses you can expect delivery 10-14 days after placing the order.

We therefore kindly ask that you do not contact us regarding delivery until two weeks after placing your order.

Please note that other factors beyond our control can affect delivery timescales, such as rail or postal strikes. Post for everyone takes longer in the month leading up to Christmas.

*Except for selected value glasses, such as the Cambridge, Sydney, Mendip and Westbury models. These are sent via Amazon Prime, which typically takes 4-5 working days to mainland UK addresses once they ship the item.

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Can you drive wearing reading glasses?

Tony Brooks

Can you drive wearing reading glasses? The short answer is no.

Reading glasses are designed to correct for presbyopia, which is a big word for when the eye cannot focus properly on near objects.

Reading glasses (readers) are designed to give clarity to objects at a maximum distance of around one metre, or 3 feet. This corresponds to roughly an arm’s length, or the (greatest) distance at which you would hold a book, a phone or a menu away from your face.

Driving involves focusing on objects at a distance greater than one metre, e.g road signs, other cars, etc, therefore reading glasses are not recommended for use when driving.

The UK Driver and Vehicle Licence Agency (DVLA), sets out its driving eyesight rules here: https://www.gov.uk/driving-eyesight-rules

Essentially, they say that you need to be able to read a number plate at 20m in order to pass the eyesight part of the test. Note though, that different (higher) standards of vision are required for UK lorry and bus drivers, in order to pass the driving eyesight test.

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If you want to know more, here’s is a summary of what the DVLA say about eyesight rules on their website:

“You must wear glasses or contact lenses every time you drive if you need them to meet the standards of vision for driving. You must tell DVLA if you’ve got any problem with your eyesight that affects both of your eyes, or the remaining eye if you only have one eye. This doesn’t include being short or long sighted or colour blind. You also don’t need to say if you’ve had surgery to correct short sightedness and can meet the eyesight standards.

At the start of your practical driving test you have to correctly read a number plate on a parked vehicle. If you can’t, you’ll fail your driving test and the test won’t continue. DVLA will be told and your licence will be revoked. When you reapply for your driving licence, DVLA will ask you to have an eyesight test with DVSA. This will be at a driving test centre. If you’re successful, you’ll still have to pass the DVSA standard eyesight test at your next practical driving test.”

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Can you drive wearing reading glasses?