Optometrist fined £1,000

West London optometrist Charanjeev Singh Virdee has been fined £1,000 by the General Optical Council for failing to declare the 'full nature' of a conviction for falsely using a disabled person's badge to his local primary care trust.

Virdee was convicted on July 1 2008 at West London Magistrates Court of using a disabled person's badge to which he was not entitled (News 22.08.08) and when completing a Kensington and Chelsea PCT application form to provide ophthalmic services he wrote 'road traffic - fine' and did not say he had been convicted under the Fraud Act.

The disciplinary panel said they found this failure did not amount to misconduct, but they were 'deeply concerned' about the original conduct.