You could face a £5,000 fine for playing Christmas music in your car

DRIVING home for Christmas could land you with a hefty fine costing up to £5000 if you get carried away singing festive songs. 

Blasting your music and dancing along, could leave you with a "driving without due care and attention" or even a "dangerous driving" charge.

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If your performance sees you involved in an accident, you could be hit with a £5,000 fine and nine points on your licence.

Insurance experts Uswitch.com say: "If there’s evidence, either dashcam footage or testimony from a police officer, that you were dancing and singing prior to an accident, you could ultimately be prosecuted for dangerous driving or driving without due care and attention."

Even if you're not in an accident, careless driving could mean a smaller fine and three points on your licence.

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Even though police officers can't pull a driver over for listening to loud music, they can penalise you if they believe it is causing a distraction.

For instance, you could be fined if they say the volume of the music is drowning out audible safety warnings, like other motorists honking their horns, or sirens from emergency vehicles.

Loud music can also put you at risk of a fine, make sure you don't have the volume up too loud.

Last year, Shakin’ Stevens' infamous Christmas song, Merry Christmas Everyone, was crowned as the most to dance to in the car. 

The second most distracting song was Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano with 76 per cent. 

But it’s a surprising entry at number three, with All You’re Dreaming Of released by Liam Gallagher in 2020, totting up a distraction score of 70 per cent.

People looking for something less distracting would do well to put on All I want for Christmas by Nat King Cole, which tops the list of the least distracting songs. 

Ella Fitzgerald’s Baby it’s Cold Outside came in at number two, and Bing Crosby’s Little Drummer Boy brought home the bronze.