A NATIONAL chain of opticians has been given a formal warning after it admitted allowing unqualified staff to fit glasses and contact lenses at six branches, including Brentwood.
At a hearing in London, Vision Express conceded that Mark Heinz had worked as a dispensing optician at its branch in Brentwood High Street despite not being registered as such with the profession's regulatory body, the General Optical Council (GOC).
The firm also accepted seven other charges of employing staff, none of whom worked in Brentwood, who were not correctly registered with the GOC.
Vision Express made the admissions at a hearing of the GOC's fitness to practise committee on Wednesday.
Committee chairman Sir Alistair Graham said: "Vision Express, by its own admission, failed to meet the statutory and regulatory responsibilities in eight branches in its nationwide network.
"The requirement to monitor compliance is both a fundamental one and is basic in the sense that it should be achievable without difficulty."
The allegations came to light after a whistleblower anonymously e-mailed the regulator in July 2010.
The informant claimed that an unqualified employee, Mehmood Jagani, was working as a dispensing optician at Vision Express at the Brent Cross shopping centre in northwest London – wearing a name badge with the misleading job title.
The source said the man was "allowed to work as a fully-fledged dispensing optician," adding: "He has been allowed to dispense to young children."
The company has since overhauled its policy for issuing name badges and now ensures staff qualifications are checked.
Vision Express has also sent staff on training courses and updated its policy on the sale and supply of glasses, moves which satisfied the disciplinary panel that it need not be sanctioned for those breaches.
The committee issued the firm with a three-year warning, with Sir Alistair saying: "The purpose of this warning is to ensure that Vision Express (UK) Limited remains focused throughout this three-year period on the undertakings it has given."
Vision Express, which has 386 branches nationwide, later sacked Mr Jagani for gross misconduct, but he insisted that he had "always been clear" he was unregistered.
Vision Express (UK) Ltd was represented at the central London hearing as a corporate defendant, with three senior managers sitting through proceedings as observers.
Alistair Jarrard, store partner at Vision Express in Brentwood, said he could not comment on the hearing, although he did say that Mr Heinz had not worked at the shop for around three years.
Neil McGowan, the retail operations director at Vision Express, said: "We are satisfied with the outcome of the hearing at the General Optical Council.
"The lapse in best practice occurred three years ago.We conducted a thorough review immediately and changed our policies and processes. There have been no further incidents since.
"Vision Express are committed to providing the best individual optical care as well as delivering excellent customer service."