Online seller petitions GOC over PD demands

The founder of online retailer Metsuki presented his 'Give me my PD' petition (News 29.01.10) signed by 2,683 consumers to the General Optical Council (GOC) at its Harley Street headquarters earlier this week.

Ewan McFarlane, who travelled from Inverness to hand over the petition, said he was disappointed the GOC chief executive and registrar Satjit Singh had not received it personally and described Singh's offer in a letter last week to meet if he made an appointment with his PA as 'grandstanding'.

McFarlane is demanding that the Sight Testing Regulation (No2) 1989 be amended to make the inclusion of the inter-pupillary distance on a patient's prescription mandatory after an eye examination. 'My first hope is that I and 3,000 other petitioners will persuade the GOC that a review is long overdue,' he said.