A DOCTOR who drank four cans of lager before getting behind the wheel of her car and causing a head-on collision now faces a fight to save her career.

Consultant anaesthetist Julia Morch-Siddall, of East Heddon, Heddon-on-the-Wall, caused a head-on collision in her Land Rover Freelander, on the A1, on January 30 last year.

Four empty cans of Stella Artois had been found in Morch-Siddall’s car, along with another half-empty can, and the other driver, a 36-year-old man, was left wheelchair-bound for months following the crash.

The doctor received an 18-month suspended prison sentence following her conviction in September for causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to provide a specimen for analysis. She is due to begin a medical practitioners tribunal, beginning on Monday. The tribunals hear evidence and decide whether a doctor’s fitness to practise is impaired and whether their registration should be restricted.