driving licence revoked

seese

My husband has just had his driving licence revoked because of his mental health problem(he has bipolar affective disorder).It will be at least 6 months before he will again be able to drive.While he can now get some cheap travel on public transport there is no scheme available to help sell the now unusable car( I am unable to drive.)which sits in the driveway reminding him every day of the extent of his illness.The car is only worth about 1500 but it is money we could well do with.
Thanks for listening.

Poppy9

Glad you feel better after your rant. Now use that energy positively - learn to drive. Find a driving instructor you feel you can relate to and away to go.

If you live in Wales your husband would be entitled to a free bus pass from the Local Authority and you can also travel with him for free. You should also get a disabled persons rail card which will give him a free ticket at the Cinema for someone to accompany him.

You have to understand the DVLA position in withdrawing your husband licence if you feel its unjustified and you are both really happy that he is fit to drive then see if it can be reissued with medical advice. A similar thing happened to my FIL a few years back. He had a fit and so lost his licence for 12 months. If he was fit free for 12 months he would be allowed his licence back. He continue to have fits but never sought medical help for them so there was no record of the fits. He was then reissued his licence. My oh was very unhappy about this, especially when he saw a dent on his car. He threaten to call the DVLA and tell them. That didn't work so my oh took his car off him and kept it at our house. In the end he sold the car as his father was obviously not fit to drive. Its not just the danger to himself but to other road users and pedestrians. Imagine your anger towards a driver who was unfit to drive killing or hurting you or your family.

kazzy

Do you have a yellow news paper in your area called the 'Freeads'.If you really want to sell your car ,you can advertise it in that paper for free.I have sold a couple of cars this way very easily.I f you don't sell it the first week you just keep it in every week til it's sold.It costs NOTHING.
Good luck

seese

Thanks Kazzy I will look into that.

My complaint is not that his licence has been revoked as I am in full agreement with
Poppy9 about drivers who may be a danger.It is just the last straw for us as we have a great number of other difficulties as well.Sorry to moan.
Sylvia

daveboy

If it is 6 months before he may be able to drive again, then selling the car will give you a problem in the future.

This is my own personal view - never tell the authorities anything. Somehow the DVLA have found out. I wouldn't tell them a thing. If you're a day late paying your road tax they'll fine you £80. If they can be unreasonable then so can I.

Learning to drive may appear a bit of a test when you have little idea of the working of a car. I remember when I learnt to drive, after a few lessons I had the idea of what to do. It does sound from your post that money is an issue so I can understand if learning to drive is not an option due to cost.

I hope that whatever you decide to do, that your husband recovers and that the current issues you have resolve themselves.

Poppy9

Sylvia

If money is an issue for you ask on the Benefit board if you are receiving your full entitlement. Sorry I don't think I would be much help to you in that department as I struggled helping my FIL but I am sure some kind MSE will happily obliged. You do not have to post your full financial details and you can communicate with people by PM.

Good luck.

Paul_Varjak

I think doctors may be required to report people to the DVLA who, in their opinion, cannot drive.

You can also sell cars on EBay. My sister sold two of hers that way.

Has your husband had his licence permanently or temporarily revoked? Will he have to take another test before being allowed to drive again?

Queenie

daveboy wrote:

........ This is my own personal view - never tell the authorities anything. Somehow the DVLA have found out. I wouldn't tell them a thing. If you're a day late paying your road tax they'll fine you £80. If they can be unreasonable then so can I..

That's called cutting your nose to spite your face!

Turning_into_scrooge

daveboy wrote:

If it is 6 months before he may be able to drive again, then selling the car will give you a problem in the future.

This is my own personal view - never tell the authorities anything. Somehow the DVLA have found out. I wouldn't tell them a thing. If you're a day late paying your road tax they'll fine you £80. If they can be unreasonable then so can I.

.

Unfortunately some doctors actually inform the DVLA which is what happened to a relative on mine as in his medical opinion she wasn't at that time medically fit to drive as she was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. If you can get away without telling the authorities then fine but you need to make sure your back is covered.................. :rolleyes:

Poppy9

Turning_into_scrooge wrote:

Unfortunately some doctors actually inform the DVLA which is what happened to a relative on mine as in his medical opinion she wasn't at that time medically fit to drive as she was recently diagnosed with epilepsy. If you can get away without telling the authorities then fine but you need to make sure your back is covered.................. :rolleyes:

I hope you don't mean that the doctor shouldn't have told the DVLA about the Epilepsy I am sure you didn't:D

There are lots of conditions that can affect your driving. If you have had a C-Section you are advised by midwife not to drive for 6 weeks. I rang my insurers after 4 weeks and was told I could drive after 4 weeks if my GP ok'd it. Before that my insurance would have been void. They did tell me at the time it applied to any surgery that involved general anesthetic that you had to inform your insurer. I couldn't find that in my policy though. They probably only tell you if you have an accident and try to claim.

Savvy_Sue

If the car is off-road and you don't intend to learn to drive but want to keep it then you can fill out a SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notification) and get the remainder of your car tax back - complete months only. You can also reduce the insurance payments to Fire and Theft only. Also if your MOT is due within the next 6 months but you plan to keep the car, then can you get a friend or a garage to collect it, MOT it and return it? That way putting it back on the road will be a lot simpler: you won't be able to re-tax it without an MOT (but you can drive it to an MOT appointment without tax, just tell the insurer you are doing that before you drive it!).

If you want to sell it, don't declare SORN until nearer the end of the month because a car with tax is easier to sell than a car without.

FWIW, if you need the money, I would sell it now. It's not going to be worth any more in 6 months than it is now, and there's always the worry that your DH might not get the licence back then. Plus if it's looking at him every day reminding him of his illness - well, enough said. Better a little money in the bank to help ease the other problems.

Bangernomics is an excellent site for the art of buying and selling cars at the lower end of the market. And I must once again mention Honest John, whose section on How to Buy and Sell Cars is superb. I am sure his advice would help YOU feel confident in showing the car to a potential purchaser and clinch the deal if it's not one of your DH's good days ...