What's wrong with me?!

[HelenT]

Had plenty of patients who have had dealings with the DVLA(I'm an optician) and most have found it highly frustrating , hope that "high priority" really means it in your case but be prepared to keep on chasing them up. Good luck!

[E65Ross]

HelenT said:

Had plenty of patients who have had dealings with the DVLA(I'm an optician) and most have found it highly frustrating , hope that "high priority" really means it in your case but be prepared to keep on chasing them up. Good luck!

Thanks for this. When I keep phoning them up (I'm thinking phone Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) what should I say/ask? Just whether there's any updates, why is it taking so long to look at? Not sure what else I can do to be honest.

[crikey]

E65Ross said:

The frustrating thing is that all it needs is someone to spend literally 5mins looking at the details and say "yes, he's fine, he can now drive"

That is the most annoying thing. At the end of the day they just need to be satisfied you're safe to drive, and if there's nothing in the paperwork to suggest that (and there won't if you're surgeon says you're good to go) then why is there a hold up !

Keep doing what you're doing, and get your MP to do the same. He/she is key in all of this and it sounds like they've done exactly what mine did and raised a complaint and got it fast-tracked.

I got my license back a month before I would have been able to even apply if I'd stuck to their time-scales !

[funkyrobot]

Different circumstances to Ross, but my fiancee has just had her licence renewal refused by the DVLA. She is type 1 diabetic.

During and after pregnancy last year, she had a few episodes that required intervention. She had a big hypo in April and I had to get an ambulance out. She had another mega hypo in October (two months after giving birth to our daughter), and another incident in November that required a hospital stay overnight.

Her licence ran out in September so we re-applied. Due to her having more than one incident requiring intervention in the past year, they won't issue her a new licence. Oddly though, she can re-apply six weeks before a year with not more than one incident. So, in theory she could have re-applied straight away as the last incident was November last year.

She is going to wait until the end of this month to re-apply. Will see how the process goes.

[E65Ross]

I forgot to ask them earlier roughly how long they expect the review process to take so I called them up, again!

The chap said as it's marked as "urgent" it's usually days rather than weeks/months. Time will tell but things are so far looking good.

[E65Ross]

Called them up again today and my case has, just today, been sent over to the DVLA Dr's and whilst they couldn't confirm exactly how long it will take they said that because it's marked as urgent it will be one of the first they look at.

All going well so far! I just don't want them to say "yes, your clear..... From December 1st"!

[crikey]

I'd give them until Tuesday afternoon and ring again, if it hasn't been looked at then contact your MP again. Keep the pressure on.

I doubt very much they'll say it'll be ok from a certain date, it'll either be yes or no, and if the surgeon is saying yes then I can't see them going against that as they'll have no grounds to.

It does sound like things are happening exactly as they did for me, which is promising

[E65Ross]

crikey said:

I'd give them until Tuesday afternoon and ring again, if it hasn't been looked at then contact your MP again. Keep the pressure on.

I doubt very much they'll say it'll be ok from a certain date, it'll either be yes or no, and if the surgeon is saying yes then I can't see them going against that as they'll have no grounds to.

It does sound like things are happening exactly as they did for me, which is promising

This is good to know. In your opinion, how long do you think it will be until they make a decision, based on the fact it's marked as urgent?

My car is actually at the garage getting some service bits done and will be ready Tuesday, so Tuesday may be a good time to call them

Cheers

Ross

[crikey]

From the point when I got my MP involved to getting my license back it was about 5 weeks, but that included my MP getting them to agree to allow me to apply (at that point I still had 3 months left of my "ban"). Once I had sent all the forms in, and they'd got the forms back from my surgeon, it was a matter of days. They did try and stall it again, as they do, but my MP stepped in again

[E65Ross]

crikey said:

From the point when I got my MP involved to getting my license back it was about 5 weeks, but that included my MP getting them to agree to allow me to apply (at that point I still had 3 months left of my "ban"). Once I had sent all the forms in, and they'd got the forms back from my surgeon, it was a matter of days. They did try and stall it again, as they do, but my MP stepped in again

Thanks for this. In theory, then, I could be driving next week! The fact it's been referred to the Dr's suggests they aren't going to consider the 12 month period..... My surgeon has said to me that based on their guidelines and what he's written to them he sees no reason why they would decline my application.

Cannot wait

[crikey]

Fingers crossed for you fella

[E65Ross]

crikey said:

Fingers crossed for you fella

Thanks, I'll call them tomorrow on my lunch break

[E65Ross]

Called them and my licence application has been accepted. However, they're saying they won't send my licence put until nearer the 12 month period (they said somewhere around November 13th).

I've just emailed the MP again to see if she can help.

How absurd. They have said I'm fine to drive, hence accepting my application, but then say I have to wait. Ridiculous! Hopefully the MP can get this sorted for me.

[crikey]

E65Ross said:

Called them and my licence application has been accepted. However, they're saying they won't send my licence put until nearer the 12 month period (they said somewhere around November 13th).

I've just emailed the MP again to see if she can help.

How absurd. They have said I'm fine to drive, hence accepting my application, but then say I have to wait. Ridiculous! Hopefully the MP can get this sorted for me.

They really are a bunch of absolute wkers, get straight onto your MP as he/she should be able to pressure them into giving you your license back now.

Utterly ridiculous to say you're good to go but hold your license back for another month ! You're either medically fit to drive or you're not, and if you are medically fit then they have no grounds to withhold your license. Go get 'em !

[E65Ross]

They are such aholes aren't they. I've emailed the MP again as well as my surgeon, Vas. I'm hoping he'll phone the Dr's line and say there's no reason to withhold my licence back. I just hope he's able to do this. They said it may help.

What a piss take! Will keep you posted!

I mentioned your case and they weren't able to access it because I'm not the licence holder, which is frustrating.

[crikey]

E65Ross said:

They are such aholes aren't they. I've emailed the MP again as well as my surgeon, Vas. I'm hoping he'll phone the Dr's line and say there's no reason to withhold my licence back. I just hope he's able to do this. They said it may help.

What a piss take! Will keep you posted!

I mentioned your case and they weren't able to access it because I'm not the licence holder, which is frustrating.

I'll email you my case reference in the morning, they can look it up then. They'll no doubt say every case is different, but they have set a president with my case (and probably others) of not enforcing the whole "ban" when there is no medical reason to do so.

[E65Ross]

crikey said:

E65Ross said:

They are such aholes aren't they. I've emailed the MP again as well as my surgeon, Vas. I'm hoping he'll phone the Dr's line and say there's no reason to withhold my licence back. I just hope he's able to do this. They said it may help.

What a piss take! Will keep you posted!

I mentioned your case and they weren't able to access it because I'm not the licence holder, which is frustrating.

I'll email you my case reference in the morning, they can look it up then. They'll no doubt say every case is different, but they have set a president with my case (and probably others) of not enforcing the whole "ban" when there is no medical reason to do so.

I have given them your case number, but they said they couldn't access it because I wasn't the licence holder.... I didn't ask for any personal information, I just said that person xyz with this condition was under the same situation as me and he got his licence back and his case number was mxxxxx.

I've emailed the MP again, and hopefully they'll help me out. I've also emailed Vas. We'll see what happens!

Many thanks.

[E65Ross]

I've just had a message back from Vas saying he'll call the DVLA tomorrow and "try to work his charm"

What a hero. We shall see what happens. Neurosurgeon who's seen me and knows me and says I'm fine..... DVLA tts who's never met me are also saying I'm fine (hence issuing my licence) but then making me wait another 7 weeks.

How utterly, utterly ridiculous.

I may ask my MP to see if we can get this changed in parliament or something. It won't help me but it may help others in the future.

[crikey]

E65Ross said:

I have given them your case number, but they said they couldn't access it because I wasn't the licence holder.... I didn't ask for any personal information, I just said that person xyz with this condition was under the same situation as me and he got his licence back and his case number was mxxxxx.

I've emailed the MP again, and hopefully they'll help me out. I've also emailed Vas. We'll see what happens!

Many thanks.

Ah, forgot I'd already given it to you. There is absolutely nothing to stop them from looking, more bullst. I honestly don't know how they get away with it, the dishonesty is quite astonishing !

I don't know what to suggest if you're MP hits a wall, press involvement maybe ?

[E65Ross]

crikey said:

E65Ross said:

I have given them your case number, but they said they couldn't access it because I wasn't the licence holder.... I didn't ask for any personal information, I just said that person xyz with this condition was under the same situation as me and he got his licence back and his case number was mxxxxx.

I've emailed the MP again, and hopefully they'll help me out. I've also emailed Vas. We'll see what happens!

Many thanks.

Ah, forgot I'd already given it to you. There is absolutely nothing to stop them from looking, more bullst. I honestly don't know how they get away with it, the dishonesty is quite astonishing !

I don't know what to suggest if you're MP hits a wall, press involvement maybe ?

Tell me about it, utterly absurd. I've been through enough and so to hit this battle right at the end is just crazy. Hopefully Vas will get somewhere. A neuro-oncology consultant saying that there is no reason why I can't drive now and should wait another 7 weeks vs some prat in an office who knows fk all about me.....it SHOULD be a clear outcome, but you know it probably won't be.

Not heard back from the MP case worker yet but hopefully I'll hear back at some point today.

Effectively what the DVLA are saying is that in the next 7 weeks something is DEFINITELY going to change to my condition which will mean I'm able to drive. If this change wouldn't happen, they wouldn't have granted my licence; if there were no change to take place, I should have my licence back now.

When I asked to speak to one of the DVLA drs I was told they don't talk to the public. I genuinely wonder whether they actually exist (no, seriously)

Thanks Crikey, will keep you posted.