A FORMER Southampton teacher who crashed into a tree while drink-driving and then lied about it to her bosses has been banned from her profession.

Ex-Redbridge Community School teacher Rupinder Bains was almost double the drink-drive limit when she hit a tree on the A33 in Basingstoke.

She was charged with drink-driving following the crash in December 2016.

But when questioned days later by school chiefs, the 36-year-old IT teacher said she had only been drinking the night before the crash. She had actually been drinking the same day.

Bains also downplayed the amount of alcohol she had consumed and the reading of her breath test.

Days after giving her account to her school, Bains pleaded guilty to drink-driving during a court hearing, in which details of the crash were revealed.

She later admitted providing false information to the school about her arrest.

Yesterday, a review of Bains’ conduct was published, following a panel hearing by the Teaching Regulation Agency.

The three-person panel, lead by former teacher Tony James, said in their report Bains had admitted “acting dishonestly” by providing false information to the school.

The panel said it was satisfied Bains knew the information provided was false or misleading.

They recommended Bains, who they said had shown “not show remorse for her dishonest conduct”, be banned from teaching.

In the report, the panel said: “We are satisfied that the conduct of Ms Bains amounts to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.”

“In this case, the panel has found the allegations proven and found that those proven facts amount to a conviction of a relevant offence, unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

“The panel has made a recommendation to the Secretary of State that Bains should be the subject of a prohibition order, with no review period.”

Dawn Dandy, making the decision on behalf of the Secretary of State, agreed with the recommendation.

She rejected the idea of a two year suspension period, saying Bains had been “dishonest”, had shown a “lack of either insight or remorse”, and had sought to “blame others and repeatedly misled the school”.

Bains, who worked for Redbridge Community School from 2013 to 2017, will no longer be able to teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.

The order against Bains, who now lives in Minterne Avenue, Southall, London, also bans her from applying to have her teacher status restored.

A spokesperson for Redbridge Community School said: “As a school we made the decision to refer this case to the National College following our decision to terminate Ms Bains’s contract as she showed unprofessional conduct.”

“We expect our members of staff to have high levels of integrity and honesty and we felt it was imperative that this case was raised with the National College.”