Student dispensing optician Lyndon Clarke has been erased from the General Optical Council's registers by a fitness to practise review panel.
Clarke was suspended in February (News 03.02.12) after a fitness to practise committee ruled his ability to undertake training was impaired on the collective basis of a misconduct incident and convictions for drinking driving and assaulting his partner.
The committee said Clarke did not attend the review hearing, and did not therefore take up the chance offered earlier this year to demonstrate that he had put this type of behaviour behind him. With this in mind, the committee said it could not safely conclude Clarke appreciated the gravity of his actions that he would not place patients at risk. The nature of the conduct and convictions was also said to have caused serious damage to the reputation of the profession.
The committee concluded that a further period of suspension was not a sufficient sanction.