A physiotherapist who was convicted of drink-driving while more than three times the legal alcohol limit has been suspended from practising in the UK, but has since launched a new clinic in India, where he says such offences are not taken as seriously. Bijoy Bridewin Thomas, 45, told a misconduct panel he "did not think that drink-driving was that serious" and did not view it as a criminal offence in his home country, prompting the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) to describe his actions as "deliberate, reckless and negligent".

Thomas, who ran Reliefsake Physiosolutions in Stoke-on-Trent, was convicted in March 2024 after police said he was seen "swerving all over the road" with 113 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, more than three times the UK limit. He was banned from driving for two years and two months, given a community order and fined £249 in costs, and was also convicted of driving without a licence or insurance. The panel acknowledged personal and financial turmoil in his life at the time but found he still posed a risk, and it has since emerged that he dissolved his Staffordshire business last November before founding a new venture, Physiotherapy Yaanam, in India in January.