General Chiropractic Council successfully prosecutes Tony Parker for unlawfully using the title ‘chiropractor’
07.10.26
07.10.26
The General Chiropractic Council (GCC), the UK regulator of chiropractors, has successfully prosecuted Tony Parker for unlawfully describing himself as a chiropractor while not registered with the GCC.
Mr Parker, who traded as Ability Back Centres in Guildford, was found guilty at Staines Magistrates Court on 19 August 2026 of using the protected title 'chiropractor' while not on the GCC Register. This is against the law.
Under section 32(1) of the Chiropractors Act 1994, the title 'chiropractor' is protected. It is a criminal offence for anyone to describe themselves as a chiropractor, whether expressly or by implication, unless they are registered with the GCC.
The protected title exists to keep patients safe. Everyone on the GCC Register is appropriately qualified, must meet the standards of conduct and practice set out in the GCC Code, keeps their knowledge and skills up to date through continuing professional development, and holds professional indemnity insurance. When someone uses the title without being registered, patients lose those safeguards and have no assurance that the person treating them is fit to practise.
Mr Parker had left the Register and was therefore not permitted to use the title. The offence related to material describing Mr Parker as a chiropractor after he had left the Register, despite prior warnings from the GCC that doing so was a criminal offence.
This follows earlier regulatory action over Mr Parker's advertising. In September 2023, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint from the GCC about a leaflet for Ability Back Centres, seen in March 2023, which gave Mr Parker the title Dr and presented him as a doctor of chiropractic. The ASA found the leaflet misleading and ruled that it must not appear again in that form. It told Mr Parker not to claim that he was a registered chiropractor, or that he held a general medical qualification, when that was not the case. The ruling is published at https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/tony-parker-a23-1192039-tony-parker.html
The court imposed a fine of £2,500. Mr Parker was also ordered to pay a £1,000 Victim Surcharge and the GCC's full costs of bringing the case.
Nick Jones, GCC Chief Executive and Registrar, said:
"The title 'chiropractor' is protected by law so that patients can trust the person treating them is qualified, insured and accountable to a regulator. Anyone who uses it without being registered is misleading the public and putting patients at risk. Protecting the public is our priority, and where someone persists in using the title unlawfully we will prosecute."
You can check whether a person is registered, and therefore legally entitled to call themselves a chiropractor in the UK, by searching the GCC Register.
If you are concerned that someone is using the title 'chiropractor' without being registered, please contact the GCC via our Concerns webpage.