Fainting and driving

[JimboWizbo]

I hope somebody else on here has been through a similar ordeal and can help with what's going to happen:

6 months ago my friend fainted (altered state of consciousness, blackout, syncope, whatever you want to call it) while sitting at their desk. Nobody noticed and they must have been out only momentarily. They went to their GP who referred them for neurological and cardiological tests, as this point she told them that they "Probably shouldn't be driving", the neurology consultant also told them to "be a good citizen" and not drive during the investigation.

During the last 6 months they had the following tests:
- ECG
- Ambulatory ECG (48 hour ECG)
- EEG
- Head MRI
- Head CT Scan

They have a final follow up on Monday, but they know that all of the tests have come back negative (normal).

According to DVLA's guidelines (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/390134/aagv1.pdf) the case qualifies them for "license refused/revoked for 6 months" (They are a car driver, not a lorry/bus driver)

They spoke to the DVLA this week and they are sending the FEP1 form to fill in, this will advise DVLA of what happened and give DVLA access to their medical records to make their decision regarding fitness to drive.

Here is the worrying part, during the phone call the DVLA rep felt obliged to advise my friend that "for a blackout it's a 12 month driving restriction"

This makes no sense, all of the guidelines written by the DVLA suggest 6 months for car drivers, and 12 months for lorry drivers.

I hope somebody can help shed some light on this situation, in the mean time my friend will get the FEP1 form filled in and sent out.

Thanks

[popeyewhite]

I know a fair number of people who have fainted for one reason or another. None of them surrendered their licence, only a handful went to the gp, none were advised to inform DVLA.

[jonah35]

Most people I know have fainted at some point in their life!

[Alucidnation]

A friend of mine recently had a very similar problem, in so much that he passed out ( for apparently, no reason) on a long haul flight to Bankok, although he said, when he came round, he felt 100% fine, and has done ever since. He is in excellent health BTW.

When he got home a few weeks later, he thought he would do the right thing and go to his doc to get checked out, and with that he promptly banned him for 6 months and i think, notified the DVLA.

He got in contact with the DVLA, they sent all the forms out for him to fill in which he returned the next day, and he never got an answer from them, until a few weeks after he could start driving again.

He also went for various tests and even went private to speed up the process and to find out if there really was anything wrong, but everything came back 100%.

Good luck.