A DOCTOR who drank double vodkas in between treating patients before driving home four times the drink-drive limit has been allowed to keep his job.

Dr Martin Peverley, 51, had to be carried from his car by police officers after he drank almost a full bottle of vodka while at work where he had been keeping appointments and completing paperwork.

The disgraced doctor and former director of Hartlepool and District Hospice, was in charge of the care of 3,500 patients at the Journee Medical Practice, Hartlepool, during the incident last year.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel heard that Peverley’s professional and financial problems had “come to a head” on April 15, 2016, and he had bought a 70cl bottle of vodka during his lunch break.

The respected GP drank two double measures before leaving work and travelling along the A689 and A19 and was seen to be “braking and speeding up with no cause, swerving across the road and narrowly missing other vehicles”.

He was arrested by Cleveland Police officers on his driveway in Nunthorpe at 6.50pm on the Friday evening.

During a tribunal in Manchester last week, the General Medical Council heard that the family doctor, who began practicing in 1990, had been so intoxicated that he had to be physically pulled out of his car and was unable to stand.

The 51-year-old was disqualified from driving for 36 months at Teesside Magistrates Court on April 27, 2016, after pleading guilty to drink-driving and was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

However, Jonathan Holl-Allen, representing Peverley during the tribunal, said the GP accepted that his actions were “stupid” and “ridiculous” and he would not try to justify them.

Sean Ell, tribunal panel chair, said: “Mr Holl-Allen told the tribunal that you accepted that the offence was serious, submitting that you had been open about the circumstances of having drunk vodka at work and then driving home.

“He said that you had made a very serious error of judgement, but invited the tribunal to accept that your actions were out of character and occurred against a background of accumulating stress, caused by professional and financial problems, which had ‘come to a head’ on 15 April 2016.”

Peverley has not worked since being suspended from the National Medical Performers List on April 19, 2016, and the tribunal heard he has not kept up to date with medical knowledge following his suspension.

Tribunal chair, Mr Ell, added: “[The General Medical Council] submitted that the circumstances which led to your conviction were such that you have brought the profession into disrepute and public confidence would be undermined if a finding of impairment were not made in your case.

“He told the tribunal that there was a clear potential risk to patient safety as you drank vodka at work, continued to see patients, then became progressively more inebriated as you addressed patient-related paperwork.”

Peverley has been suspended for six months and the tribunal directed that his case will be reviewed by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal before the end of the suspension period.