DVLA Medical Backlog, Rubbish Service, Slow!

Rosie_Flowers

I was a driver until some health problems and then when I notified the DVLA my licence was revoked. I decided to reapply for my licence. It seems to be taking an exceptionally long time given that the revoking was a very quick process in which I was ordered by the DVLA to act immediately under the threats of a £1,000 fine!

The DVLA have had medical notes back from my medical people but sent a letter saying it will now take up to 12 weeks which seems a long time.

I am interested to know if anyone else is in this situation or if I am some kind of "special case" that is taking a long time. It seems a very lengthy process for what really seems to be quite a simple box ticking and form filling exercise.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Johno100

A very similar thread in discussion time, in fact almost identical timings.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4841223

Afraid I can't offer any advise, all I will say is if you make major cuts to the number of staff employed then the service is going to suffer.

retiredin2011

If you had health problems and were told by your doctor not to drive why did you inform the DVLA of this?


Why did you not just stop driving?


You don't need a licence to drive a car, you just need a licence to drive a car legally.


A friend of mine was banned from driving, it didn't mean he no longer had the ability to drive, just that he couldn't drive legally on the road.

Rosie_Flowers

retiredin2011 wrote: »

If you had health problems and were told by your doctor not to drive why did you inform the DVLA of this?


Why did you not just stop driving?


You don't need a licence to drive a car, you just need a licence to drive a car legally.


A friend of mine was banned from driving, it didn't mean he no longer had the ability to drive, just that he couldn't drive legally on the road.

If you have a notifiable condition you have to tell the DVLA yourself.

vaio

If you have a medical condition that might improve then the temptation to keep DVLC out of the loop is pretty strong.

1. If your doctor says don't drive then don't
2. If your doctor says you can drive then you can

What benefit is there in sending your licence back when 1. happens only to have to reverse the process when 2. happens?

Other than having to wait months?

Rodney_Trotter

retiredin2011 wrote: »

If you had health problems and were told by your doctor not to drive why did you inform the DVLA of this?


Why did you not just stop driving?


You don't need a licence to drive a car, you just need a licence to drive a car legally.


A friend of mine was banned from driving, it didn't mean he no longer had the ability to drive, just that he couldn't drive legally on the road.

Have a read of this https://www.gov.uk/driving-medical-conditions

st999

My father had a stroke and his doctor told him not to drive again.

So he didn't.

He never notified the DVLA.

He didn't see the point.

Johno100

Yes, it is an offence under Section 94 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 not to tell DVLA of a 'relevant or prospective disability'.

Richard53

To be fair to the DVLA, the different timescales are reasonable. If you have someone who is medically unfit to drive, you want them off the road straight away without any argument (hence the threat of the fine). If someone is applying to be declared fit again, you need to be sure that this is the case, with all the relevant evidence. It's their duty of care to the rest of us. That would explain the immediate revoking and the delay in reinstating.

I can see that asking for and receiving the medical reports could take several weeks, but I have to say that there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency, which is disappointing.

colino

Complain daily to them and to your MP if you are properly fit to drive. DVLA is shrinking alarmingly quickly and if you don't make enough noise about it, we will all end up with a terrible, centralised black box of rubbish only fit for online tax disc renewals.

Johno100

colino wrote: »

Complain daily to them and to your MP if you are properly fit to drive. DVLA is shrinking alarmingly quickly and if you don't make enough noise about it, we will all end up with a terrible, centralised black box of rubbish only fit for online tax disc renewals.

And if the abolition if the paper tax disc in October is as some are suggesting the precursor to the eventual phasing out of VED and its incorporation in fuel prices, then there will be even less of the DVLA left.