OR interview worries

ellaybee

Well we'll likely be living in a caravan so its pretty essential for towing that...not sure they'll take that as a valid reason though...

I hope you can get some back up from your GP Pippa...I read of someone being excepted their gym membership as their GP wrote a letter saying how it was vital for their well-being, so hopefully you can do the same for your car.

kepar

I think you do not understand about cars, even if the OR says you cannot keep the car, that does not mean you cannot have one. The main reason the OR has to agree is to allow all the allowances that go with the running of a vehicle i.e fuel, insurance etc.

If the OR doesn't allow the car , but you feel that you can fund it out of other allowances , so be it.

fermi

If the OR doesn't agree to declare the vehicle as an exempt asset, then they can take the vehicle itself. It will quite literally be property of the OR/trustee, and not yours.

They will often take even low (or scrap) value vehicles, because as the legal owner they have the duty to deal with the vehicle.. Either sell, SORN, scrap or whatever.

Obviously the above costs them money to do, so even if they claim the vehicle it might be possible to offer a small sum to buy it back. However, if they have not felt able to declare the vehicle as an except asset, and as such do not regard it as essential, then they may well not allow running costs in any budget.

Does really sound like the best bet is showing medical evidence the car is needed if you can manage that.

PippaGirl_2

I'm really shocked that they don't take my mental health into account at all. I have evidence from CMHT that I struggle to leave the house or make any social contact at all, I have panic attacks at home even going through the front door and yet despite these struggles I make myself get into the city for a weekly counselling session, I get to CMHT to meet my social worker and I go to a depression support group all three of which I would not manage without the car. I am registered disabled under mental health. Given the panic attacks I have, often brought on by the fear of bumping in to someone I might have to speak to means I rarely walk around anywhere or walk past neighbours houses. I would end up totally isolated and without my treatment or therapy if I lost the car. The OR said all this was irrelevant.

He was 'slightly' interested in my spinal conditioon which is narrowed discs, facet joint disease and osteophytes around several discs. But he asked me how far I could walk and I was honest and said I could walk good distances but that I have a blue badge because I am unable to carry anything of any weight so when shopping need to park near the shops. He said it was unlikely I would be allowed the car given I can walk but that I could try and get medical evidcence on the small chance it would be allowed. To me though, the isolation I would experience with the loss of the car would be devastating to me and I wouldn't be able to access treatment and therapy. I can't travel on buses due to my back condition, the way they swing wide around corners is absolute agony for my back as I try to cope with that movement, it's just not possible. It is my lifeline. Tbh I am almost not going to bother seeing my GP as the OR said as I can walk it is highly unlikely I will be allowed to keep it, not sure what my GP would say that would change that though his report was accepted by the council for my blue badge application. I rarely see my GP as I have awful panic attacks in the waiting room, this whole situation is awful. I just don't know whether even to try to save it.

kepar

I agree fermi, what I was trying to say was that even if the car is taken there is nothing stopping you buying a cheap run around and financing it out of your other allowances.

Sorry I didn't make that apparent in my previous post .

PippaGirl_2

I don't have any money to buy a car and have no money each month for savings to save for one so if I lose this thats it.

debtinfo

Hi Pippa, it is definitly worth getting letters from your GP for the physical problems and from CMHT for the mental ones. You need to understand how these decisions are made, If it is an exemption for work that is staright forward and willlikely be taken by the examiner himself, For exemptions for domestic need, they are always more complicated and the decision will be taken by his boss the Assistant Official Receiver (AOR) but with no other evidence will only look at the info provided by the examiner who seems not to understand fully the problems you have, therefore it is vital to give the AOR more information to think about. Neither of them will have any medical training and so it is difficult for them to know when someone genuinely needs the vehicle or is just trying it on and so what you need it a genuine medical opinion which you are in a position to get for them. If the Doctor states that you actually need it then it would be difficult for the AOR to decide otherwise

JCS1

The will want the premium bond rather than £5, even £1 premium bonds are cashed in, sorry, but there is no way round it.

Regards the car - you need to prove that the car is essential (rather than convenient) for your medical needs, as others have said, your doctor may be best placed to write a letter of support.

PippaGirl_2

Why do they want the premium bond rather than the £5? Surely it is the same thing to them?

rossireps

def get some medical evidence,they do take mental health into account. although my vehicle had 2 wheels rather than 4.