Nottingham-based Donald Wood faced two allegations, one that he was rude and aggressive to a customer and another that he was rude and obstructive to an optical employee, at a hearing in of the GOC's disciplinary committee last month.
Former patient Karen Drage alleged that Mr Wood told her he was 'fed up' with being responsible for her eye care because she did not buy her spectacles from him. She had been a patient at Kings Walk Contact Lenses for 10 years, but could not afford to buy her spectacles there, so took her prescription to the local Specsavers Opticians.
Mrs Drage stated that on March 15, 2002 she took a prescription to Specsavers. DO assistant at the practice Michelle John was unclear about the prescription, contacted Kings Walk Contact Lenses and she spoke to a man she believed to be Mr Wood.
Ms John told the committee: 'He became upset and said he wasn't prepared to give me the information I needed. He was unpleasant and said he no longer wanted her custom.'
Mrs Drage returned to the practice to speak to Mr Wood. She said: 'He was brusque and aggressive. You do not have to be a genius to work out he was angry.'
Speaking on his own behalf at his hearing on April 16, Mr Wood said that a lot of patients took their prescriptions elsewhere, and denied both women's allegations.
He explained: 'Mrs Drage indicated I had been rude to someone at Specsavers. I said I was not rude. I was firm. I said maybe in future she should get her eyes tested at the same place she buys her glasses from, because she had had problems the year before because she has a complicated prism. I did not raise my voice.'
He insisted he did not tell his former patient that he was fed up with being responsible for her eye care. Both allegations were found to be not proven.
A dispensing optician, accused of serious professional misconduct for being 'rude and aggressive' to a patient, has been found not guilty.