A north-east teacher has been given a reprieve by her peers to prove that she can battle alcoholism.
PE teacher Helen Fletcher faced the General Teaching Council for Scotland on Monday after she was convicted of using her car in Banff while under the influence in January 2012.
The teacher, who has battled with alcoholism for four years, also failed to cooperate with police officers when they approached her and did not provide breath samples when asked.
At Banff Sheriff Court that August, she was fined £500 and banned from the roads for five years.
On Monday, she faced allegations that she was unfit to teach as a result of the incident.
But a panel of Ms Fletcher’s peers heard that she had not been driving the car when she was approached by police officers, and that she was at a “critical” stage in her recovery from alcoholism.
Darren Wapplington, who represented the teacher on behalf of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, told the watchdog she had been seated in her car outside a pub waiting for taxi.
“The keys were not in the ignition,” he added.
The panel judged that Ms Fletcher’s problems with alcohol, while a “significant factor” in her behaviour, were “remediable”.
But it said there was a public interest in imposing sanctions on Ms Fletcher – who attended the hearing via video link – because of the “serious nature of the conduct” of her convictions.
They made her the subject of a conditional registration order (CRO) for two years, which they hope will prove she can stay sober and “minimise any potential risk of harm”.
“As a teacher, the respondent must maintain awareness that she is a role model,” the body’s report states.
“There were considerations of public protection as well as the reputation of the teaching profession. Although no individual was injured as a result of the respondent’s actions, they did place the public at risk.”