Tribunal City GP won't be struck off over protest

A SOUTH Bristol doctor jailed for smashing up a petrol station on the M25 has been suspended as a GP, but not struck off for life by a medical tribunal.

- Tristan CORK

Dr Patrick Hart, pictured, had his registration suspended for 10 months, after a tribunal ruled his actions were serious misconduct, but not serious enough to see him struck off for life.

A medical tribunal panel said it was a "finely balanced decision" whether to strike Dr Hart off completely or suspend his registration as a GP for a certain amount of time, but concluded it would be "disproportionate" to end his medical career over his climate change protest actions.

The GP, with the Bridge View Medical practice in Bedminster, has recently been released on licence after he was jailed for a year in January this year for criminal damage. Dr Hart took a hammer to the display screens on the petrol pumps at a service station on the M25 in Essex in 2022.