A dental nurse spent a Saturday evening socialising with friends in the town where she lived. During the evening she consumed two small glasses of wine which she assumed would not take her over the permitted blood alcohol level for driving.
It was twilight when she got behind the wheel to make the short journey home. She had not turned on the car’s lights as she did not consider it to be fully dark. She was horrified to see the dreaded blue flashing lights of a police car in the rear-view mirror, just a few seconds into her journey. The police officer informed her that she had been stopped for driving without lights and invited her to take a breathalyser test. It showed that she was over the limit and she ended up with a conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol.
She was fined, given points on her driving licence and banned from driving. The GDC was duly informed by the police and she subsequently received notice that her fitness to practice was in question by reason of a criminal conviction. She immediately contacted Dental Protection, fearful for her career.
How Dental Protection assisted
Exercising our discretion, representations were then made on her behalf which included testimonials from her employer and note of her previously unblemished good character. She was eventually given a warning by the GDC with regards to maintaining standards in the eyes of the public. She was able to keep her job at the practice although this did entail a 16-mile round trip by bicycle until her driving ban was lifted.