Hi All,

I have a great relationship with my vet and he has my full trust, he is without doubt the best vet i have ever had. He is old and has 2 practices of his own, one about 5-10 mins from me and one about 25 mins from me. I obviously use the local one most of the time unless i need him when he is over at the other practice then i go over there so i am registered as a client at both.

He has now told me this week that he has sold his practice, my local one and is keeping on the other for a while (his health is taking hold of him now bless his heart), i was chuffed that he was still keeping the other surgery so i can just go over there to him and wont lose him as my vet....NOT, as he told me yesterday the company he has sold to have restricted him to that area only and that he can not take the client base from my surgery, which to a degree i can understand but the fact that i am a client at the other practice leads me to think i can continue there as i am an exsisting client.

I dont want to jeopardise anything for my old vet as he says they can sue him for taking clients with him.

So question 1 is: Surely he is not stealing me if i am already a client at his other surgery?

questions 2: if they dont supply an after hours service at the practice is that not grounds for me saying i will no longer use them and then i have the right to go where i want?

question 3: My mum has never been registered with my vet as all our dogs have always gone under my name soley, so surely my mum could register at the other practice without any problems as she has never been a client of my original vet?

Any advice would be gratefully recieved as i do not want to use anyone else while my vet is still in practice somewhere, he is invaluable and finding a relationship like that is so difficult. Of course i want my babies in the best possible hands and he is that without a doubt.
Help i want to keep my vet

The Veterinary Service is not the same as the NHS, you can go to any vet you like as you are a paying customer(just like buying your petrol etc). As you are registered at both surgeries how can they sue him ?? I think the other company are swinging him a line !

MM is right, anyone can use any vet they like, wherever you live.

i have an almost similar problem, my vet is only working hours as are most vets in the area, there are only 2 out of hours vets and it goes bu area where you have to go.
I actually have had huge problems with the out of hours vet i SHOULD use but i refuse to use them due to their negligence and arrogance. So the other one is not my area and is vets now. All the vets have an understanding where they do not take each others patients.
HOWEVER dut to me refusing point blank to use my out of hours vets and repeatedly keep using vets now who initially go through the same rigmarole of "you have to use your own out of hours vets" blah blah blah i spoke to my own vet who said they will speak to vets now who i want to use and to the other vets who i hate and explain the situation.
i know can use vets now. it took a while to do as they do prefer you to use the one your supposed to be registered to.
So my suggestion is to go to the vets that you have been told you have to stay at and also put it in writing saying that you will not use them and ARE moving vets.
So they will be losing you anyway.
Personally i would give them a chance see how it goes especially as your original vet may be ready for retirement you have no idea when he may decide to retire full time then you may end up wishing you had stayed at the vet nearest to you.

I don't see it being a problem where you go that is your choice at the end of the day, some people follow around a good vet as they do a hairdresser.

If your vet may look to retire sooner rather than later do you have another vet lined up behind him as to who you'll see next? I'd be more worried about that tbh.. Good vets are hard to come by.. I feel i have 2 in one practice now, which makes me happy as its a closer practice to me than my last one and its manned 24hrs a day, full on hospital.

> Personally i would give them a chance see how it goes especially as your original vet may be ready for retirement you have no idea when he may decide to retire full time then you may end up wishing you had stayed at the vet nearest to you.

See this is what my own vet has told me to do, to try and build a relationship with the new vet as he WILL retire soon, he is 70 bless him!
However i am not impressed at being told what vet i can go to, i said to him about me being a paying customer and having the right to take my pets where is wish and he said that yes I do, but he could end up being sued for it and i dont want to risk that for my vet.

I want to continue with my old vet until this isnt possible and would like to know how i go about finding out where i stand

Words like freedom of choice spring to mind here

You are paying, you choose the vet you want to go to surely, after all even the NHS is changing

If you moved you'd look in to the ones in the new area and probably chose the one nearest but not necessarily

I can understand about not wanting to change or getting him in to trouble but surely it is your choice where you go, just don't cut your nose off regarding the new people as you may need to go to them in the future when he does eventually stop working

Erm how will they know which vet you are using? They will have your name and address on file with a list of animals registered there but thats it. They will not know if you are going elsewhere just that they haven't seen you.

> but he could end up being sued for it

this is the reason for you not being able to change, he MUST have signed a clause which says he cannot take patients registered at that practice. so its not a matter of choice or freedom, your vet cannot do it as he agreed as terms of sale.

Vets are not allowed to actively canvas clients of another vet to go to their surgery, however if the client decides to go to a different vet there is nothing the practice can do to stop them doing so. It's the same as having to go to a main dealer for a car service-it's illegal for a manufacturer to do so as it is restrictive practice.

When the vet,who does my hip/elbow X rays, left the practice she was employed at, she couldn't officially tell me as it would be seen as canvassing for custom, all she did was give me a change of home address card & on the back she put her new work number. I only went to the practice for her to do the X rays & so she didn't poach me as I had no intention of going to the practice when she wasn't ther.

> this is the reason for you not being able to change, he MUST have signed a clause which says he cannot take patients registered at that practice. so its not a matter of choice or freedom, your vet cannot do it as he agreed as terms of sale.

That is restrictive practice which is illegal !

> That is restrictive practice which is illegal !

i would imagine (and this is guess work on everyones part as we dont know fully what has gone on) that its "restrictive" if they say the o.p cannot move, which yes she can but it looks as if her old vet as signed a contract saying he will not take on the existing customers. so they are not restricting the customer just the vet.
The vet sold a business with an existing customer base which was obviuosly valued at a certain price due to the amount of customers, if there was no clause the vet who sold it could happily take all his customers and the new vet is left with a building and nothing else.

> That is restrictive practice which is illegal !

It's very common when businesses are sold to include a clause that the original owner will not trade in a similar business/ canvass existing clients/ trade within a certain distance from sold business etc. etc.  This is of course binding on the original owner, not the client.  So while the OP is at liberty to move vets, the vet who has sold the  practice could refuse her as a client, on the basis he is in breach of his agreement wih the new owners of his old practice.  However, I would say that if the new practice is not offering an identical service (inc. out of hours on the premises etc) to the old vet, then in the unlikely event of the new practice discovering the move and taking legal action against the old vet, he would have very good grounds for a defence.  I don't think it likely this would actually lead to a legal action anyway, unle.ss there was a mass exodus of clients form the sold practice

Restraint of trade clauses

The general rule is that all restraint of trade clauses are unenforceable at common law. However, the Court will enforce such clauses if they are considered reasonable with reference to the 1interests of the parties and do not breach the public interest in free trade. So if this does go to court then it will be messy. The clauses in the contract must be no more than is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the party relying upon it. No one is allowed to restrict competition just for the sake of it. However, the Court will not look into the adequacy of consideration, i.e. the court will not  consider whether the party that has been restrained has been paid enough for that restraint. It will be for the Claimant to prove on a balance of probabilities that the clause is protecting their legitimate interests

Interesting !

I know of funeral directors who have sold out to larger companies and been restricted from opening a new business in the area for 3 years. I would imagine that the vet has some similar clause. I believe it is pretty normal practice as the valuation would include the existing customer base. I must admit that if the vet is likely to retire soon then giving the new vet a chance would be for the best as you will need to find one soon anyway. At least this way, if you hate the new one you know you will need to look elsewhere.

> I know of funeral directors who have sold out to larger companies and been restricted from opening a new business

The vet isn't opening a new business so this isn't the same

No, but he is prevented from taking customers from the area where he sold the business so the situation is similar!

this is common preactice in vets...I know more than one who have been with a prctise after leaving university and then after a few years gone on to set up their own preactise, and have had to sign a contract to say they wont take any of the clients with them...or an alternative is to say they wont set up with in x number of miles for x number of years. its quite normal and from a business point of view, quite logical

like others have said, you can use what ever vet surgery you want. I am registered at two surgeries, one is good for operations and breeding, and the other i use for general things, if i have to claim on pet insurance all i do is get a clinic history from both vet surgeries and send it on to the pet insurance . Its your choice where you go.

> Its your choice where you go.

Thanks for all the replies, thats just it thought it is my choice but at the risk of causing my vet big problems, he did say he was restricted so it sounds as though what you are saying is right that the value he sold for was based on his client base, as he has been there years and is thought very highly of i suppose the new company knew a major portion of the clients would travel 25 mins to still see our current vet, which is a huge loss to them.

i will have to try and build a new relationship with A new vet at sometime soon so was going to keep using the old practice (new vet) for most things but anything i was really worried about and any major op's (obviosusly hoping i wont need any) go to him as i trust him fully and he knows all my babies

When my last girl was in labour and i was getting in a flap he kept ringing me at home to see how things were....you just dont get that from most vets do you.

Oh i will really miss him and we had a very emotional hug and weepy moment earlier this week...we get on so well, why do good things have to end

> When my last girl was in labour and i was getting in a flap he kept ringing me at home to see how things were....you just dont get that from most vets do you.

NO not all vets i would imagine, however my vet is the liverpool small animal hospital. so as you can imagine a vey big practice but they are very very understanding. i think like most people would you are scared of change. I would give them a go you never know you may find they are ok and be worrying for nothing!!

reminds me of my old vet i used for 12yrs he was brilliant. then one day to my horror and the whole town, he commited suicide. i was scared of change i was happy going there. anyway 3 new vets moved in i didnt like it, went to another they wernt interested.
the next vet i went to is a one man band which my original vet was which i prefer, but this one had a bad reputation. nothing bad i could see as i am still going there 10yrs later!  hes fantastic and its like my old vet back, like you say trust
hope it works out for you.

I have similiar with my vet.  I don't like the vet at his surgery closest to me and heard a no. of stories from other dog owners so I travel that bit further to the other surgery.