A TEACHER who had a drunken scrap with paramedics has been struck off.

Douglas McDougall, who taught at special needs school Buchanan High, Coatbridge, was brought before the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) for a number of alcohol-related incidents.

As well as grappling with two paramedics following a trip to the pub, the hearing also heard Mr McDougall had been convicted for drink-driving.

The chemistry and maths teacher had been in a bar on Duke Street in Hamilton on September 30, 2012 when he fell and an ambulance was called.

Mr McDougall, who had worked for North Lanarkshire Council since 2006, then shouted and swore at the two paramedics.

He was found guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court in February this year after admitting a charge that he did "assault, obstruct or hinder an Emergency Service Ambulance Technician, then responding to emergency circumstances, and did shout, swear and gesticulate at them."

The teacher was also found to have been banned from driving for four years in 2004 after he failed to give a breath test.

He was been caught driving under the influence on Bellshill Road in Bothwell and, as well as being banned, was fined £540.

The 58-year-old was banned for a further four years in 2012 after driving at more than twice the limit for alcohol on High Patrick Street, Hamilton.

He was made subject to a community payback order with a condition of supervision for 12 months. Mr McDougall was found to have 80 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath when the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

He was not suspended from his teaching post by North Lanarkshire Council.

Although Mr McDougall took early retirement from his post in August 2014, he had hoped to continue as a registered teacher to work as a tutor.

However, the GTCS panel decided he should be struck off and forbidden from reapplying to join the teaching register for the next six months.

A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: "We followed our employment policies throughout this process and note the GTC's decision."

catriona.stewart@ eveningtimes.co.uk