Drink-driving Romanian vet is allowed to maintain his veterinary licence – as a result of eradicating it will result in him being deported from Britain

A drink-driving Romanian vet has been allowed to keep his veterinary licence after a tribunal was told he would be deported if he lost it. 

Tudor Herlea downed beer and vodka on a boozy evening before he was stopped by police during a routine drink drive check. 

Officers then found he was one and a half times the legal drink drive limit, a tribunal has heard.

Herlea, a registered vet who began working in the UK in July 2024 as the lead surgeon for Vets4Pets in Blackpool, was already banned from driving for a speeding offence at the time. 

However, he has been spared from being struck off the official vet register after a panel was told that the Home Office would deport him if he was suspended.

It was heard that Herlea committed the crimes in his home country and was convicted at a Romanian court in March 2024 –  four months before he came to Britain as a convicted criminal to work.

Despite this, The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) still allowed him to work in the UK. 

Herlea was convicted at Cluj-Napoca Court in Romania for a drink driving offence that he had committed the previous year.

Tudor Herlea (pictured), a registered vet who began working in the UK  July 2024 as the lead surgeon for Vets4Pets in Blackpool, downed beer and vodka on a boozy evening before he was stopped by police during a routine drink drive check

Herlea, has been spared from being struck off the official vet register after a panel was told that the Home Office would deport him if he was suspended

Just after midnight on February 5 2023, Herlea was stopped by police in a routine check for drink drivers.

The tribunal heard: ‘The level of alcohol in [his] blood was 1.42 g/l in the first sample taken and 1.23 g/l in the second. The legal limit was 0.8 g/l.’

Herlea should not have been driving at all due to a previous speeding offence the tribunal added.

It continued: ‘The speeding offence took place on 14 December 2022. He had been driving at 108km/h on a road where the limit was 50km/h. The expert explains that this constituted a traffic contravention (not a conviction for an offence) which resulted in a three month ‘administrative’ suspension from driving, ending on 27 February 2023.

‘[Herlea’s] statement (made as part of the criminal proceedings) indicated that between 21:30 and 22:30 on 4 February 2023, he had been drinking vodka and beer at his home, when at around 23:00 his father had arrived.

‘His father, who had heart-related problems, had become unwell, and did not have his medication, “Norvasc”, with him, so the Respondent had got into his company car and begun to drive to a ‘nonstop’ pharmacy to buy the medication, when he was stopped by police.’

When he arrived in Britain in July 2024, he informed the RCVS about his conviction, admitting that it made him unfit to practice as a vet, and a Committee from the College had to decide if the vet should face suspension.

The panel concluded: ‘[Herlea] chose to drive a vehicle when he must have known that the alcohol in his blood was over the prescribed limit by a significant amount.

‘He knew he had consumed a quantity of both beer and vodka. The route he took to the pharmacy in question was on a main road into the centre of town.

‘He also well knew that he was prohibited from driving by reason of the fact that his licence had been suspended for an offence of excess speed and that his period of suspension would not expire until 21 days later.’

It continued: ‘There were obvious alternative courses that he could have followed in order to secure the medicine his father needed. He could have used a taxi to get to the pharmacy in question.

‘In electing to drive his company car he therefore posed a potential for risk of harm to other road users.

‘The Committee finds that convictions of such seriousness, attracting the significant penalty of fifteen months’ custody, albeit suspended, renders [Herlea] unfit to practise.

‘The Committee considers and concludes that there is a clear public interest in acknowledging the severity of such conduct.’

The RCVS said suspending him would mean he is deported.

The panel said: ‘The misconduct of [Herlea] is serious but, having regard to the mitigating factors present in this case the Committee concludes that a period of suspension is neither necessary nor proportionate in this particular case.

‘The consequence of a period of suspension is that the Registrar removes the veterinary surgeon’s name from the Register during the period ordered. It is then automatically restored to the Register at the conclusion of the period of suspension.

‘[Herlea] would be obliged to inform the Home Office that he was no longer able to comply with the terms of his work permit, as would his sponsor, the Vets4Pets practice.

‘It not therefore unreasonable to assume that under current Home Office guidance, even a short period of suspension would result in [Herlea] being unable to practise in the United Kingdom, with permanent effect, which would be disproportionate.’

The Daily Mail has approached Pets at Home – who owns Vets for Pets – for comment.