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With Christmas on its way the carol singers will surely be out in force.But if you thought this seasonal tradition was as simple as singing and tin-rattling, you couldn't be more wrong.
As it turns out, there are issues that have, for too long, been left unaddressed – which is why this year's festive singers now have a health and safety leaflet to guide them.
The Ecclesiastical Insurance Carol Singing Guide is full of helpful advice such as: "Never sing in the road" (presumably for those carollers who have indulged in the mulled wine before hitting the pavements) and: "Don't carry candles if they're not protected by a lantern", not to mention the seemingly obvious: "Ensure children are always accompanied by an adult".
John Coastes from Ecclesiastical, who helped put the leaflet together, confessed that the guide was "basic", but told The Telegraph: "There are so many people who have got out of going carol singing that we felt we should start from the ground up.
"And with health and safety around the corner, we thought there was nothing we could leave out."
While this year's carol singers may be safer on the mean streets of the UK, sadly they won't all be welcome.
Having carried out a survey earlier in the year, Ecclesiastical found that almost half of respondents didn't like carol singers and a sizeable 19 per cent simply refused to answer the door to them.
Perhaps the company could come up with some kind of carol singing marketing strategy for next year.
