Sanction for OO who stole free beer glasses

Wet Midlands based locum optometrist Sanjiv Sharma has been handed a potentially career-changing three-month suspension after a General Optical Council fitness to practise panel heard he took five free promotional customer beer glasses without buying the corresponding packs of beer while working in a supermarket practice.

In reaching the verdict of misconduct, the committee, chaired by Ian Crookall, said: ‘The committee accepted that the transactional value of the goods was small, but that was beside the point.

‘Any misconduct, however trivial, by a registered optometrist had the potential to damage the reputation of the registered person and also the profession. The public rightly expect the highest standards of personal conduct from registered professionals.’