Needing a little advice

[James_33]

Evening all.

I'm looking for a bit of advice to do with my father who this past 6 months has had a very hard time to say the least, his wife (my mother) passed away unexpectedly and it has quite literally turned his life upside down, he was in retirement but has now been placed into a position where he needs to return to work, however........

Years ago around very late 90s or very early 2000s he use to be a bus driver, he has been offered some work driving minibuses which he thought wouldn't be a problem, but then has been told that he can't drive them and be paid because his license doesn't hold the PSV entitlement to drive the minibus and be paid.

He has given me his license details and it shows he has the D1 and D1E but nothing showing about driving buses or even showing as a provisional entitlement, he definitely says he passed the test to drive buses, I even remember catching his bus as a youngster so why wouldn't it show now?

Has anyone else been in a similar position as he needs to get back out there not only for financial reasons but for his own mental health with his recent loss?

[bigandclever]

Don’t they lapse if you don’t keep up with medicals and the like?

[TooLateForAName]

Bus companies around us are recruiting all the time - offering to put people through the training and giving a signing on bonus, so if he has experience probably worth his while ringing around local firms.
If hes over 65 I think he has to have a medical every year though to keep the entitlement.

[James_33]

bigandclever said:

Don’t they lapse if you don’t keep up with medicals and the like?

I'm unsure, I'm a bus driver myself, and apart from the CPC training you need to have every so many years I've never heard of anyone actually losing the entitlement completely?

[Julian Thompson]

When my mother passed away in 2014 my father continued to come into the business but his mood worsened and he wasn’t helpful to anyone. He worked it out though, sent himself home and worked on his E-type instead. It took time for him to process his loss, and I am very happy to say he is now the man I remember and love again. Based only on my own experience with this I would not recommend that anyone try to “work through” grief like that, especially where it involves serving the general public.

Personally I would suggest a hobby or interest to help him focus on something different. I can’t comment on financial requirements obviously. I wish you the best of luck and am sorry for your loss.

[James_33]

TooLateForAName said:

Bus companies around us are recruiting all the time - offering to put people through the training and giving a signing on bonus, so if he has experience probably worth his while ringing around local firms.
If hes over 65 I think he has to have a medical every year though to keep the entitlement.

He's 62, I just don't understand how the entitlement can disappear all together, I hold the PSV entitlement but for some reason I don't hold the D1 and D1E categories on mine, yet on his license he does? Would that be down to the pre 97 rules?

[Skyedriver]

IIRC you need to renew, with a Doctors Medical check (about £50 I recall) every 5 years. I renewed first time around but didn't the second time I needed to so now lapsed.

[James_33]

Julian Thompson said:

When my mother passed away in 2014 my father continued to come into the business but his mood worsened and he wasn’t helpful to anyone. He worked it out though, sent himself home and worked on his E-type instead. It took time for him to process his loss, and I am very happy to say he is now the man I remember and love again. Based only on my own experience with this I would not recommend that anyone try to “work through” grief like that, especially where it involves serving the general public.

Personally I would suggest a hobby or interest to help him focus on something different. I can’t comment on financial requirements obviously. I wish you the best of luck and am sorry for your loss.

My father is one who's entire life was dedicated to my mother, he looked after her and did all her treatments at home that she needed over a course of around 10 - 12 years it was only within the last 2 years or so that she properly declined, sadly he is one with very little interests in terms of hobbies, and the very little savings they did have have now gone once funeral expenses etc had been dealt with, he was just shocked when he couldn't drive something that in his opinion he had the license to drive.

[James_33]

Skyedriver said:

IIRC you need to renew, with a Doctors Medical check (about £50 I recall) every 5 years. I renewed first time around but didn't the second time I needed to so now lapsed.

I know he hasn't driven buses in particular for around 20 years almost, I just suspected that if you had passed the test even if you didn't renew it that you would still hold it on your license provisionally pending a medical, but his license when looking online doesn't even show that it just shows his car license and his C1 and C1E and D1 and D1E, but maybe you are right and that's what it is?

[Julian Thompson]

James_33 said:

Julian Thompson said:

When my mother passed away in 2014 my father continued to come into the business but his mood worsened and he wasn’t helpful to anyone. He worked it out though, sent himself home and worked on his E-type instead. It took time for him to process his loss, and I am very happy to say he is now the man I remember and love again. Based only on my own experience with this I would not recommend that anyone try to “work through” grief like that, especially where it involves serving the general public.

Personally I would suggest a hobby or interest to help him focus on something different. I can’t comment on financial requirements obviously. I wish you the best of luck and am sorry for your loss.

My father is one who's entire life was dedicated to my mother, he looked after her and did all her treatments at home that she needed over a course of around 10 - 12 years it was only within the last 2 years or so that she properly declined, sadly he is one with very little interests in terms of hobbies, and the very little savings they did have have now gone once funeral expenses etc had been dealt with, he was just shocked when he couldn't drive something that in his opinion he had the license to drive.

I understand, it’s a very difficult time and I wish you and your Dad the best. Unfortunately I don’t know anything about the driving thing.

[robdcfc]

What about something like Trade Plate driving instead?

[AMC243]

I've not heard of anyone losing the vocational element (D1/D1E) but the CPC is what drivers need in order to earn money from it - I think for those who gained their minibus licence as part of the standard car test, there's a restriction code of 101 added, which prohibits the driver from operating those vehicles for hire and reward. The medical examination is valid until the driver reaches 45, then it has to be re-done every 5 years until the driver reaches 65, after which it has to be done every year. The CPC is valid for 5 years and is renewed if the driver completes 35 hours of training within that period, otherwise it'll lapse. Both the medical and the CPC are required in order to drive buses/minibuses for a living.