How long have others waited for DVLA driving licence

Savvy_Sue

missblue wrote: »

It is interesting to note only one of you has had actual experience of this.

My own experience is around 10 years ago, so it didn't seem relevant to tell you about it. However I remembered jack_pott's slightly more recent thread where things didn't seem to have changed.

Also mine wasn't directly related to disability, but to having had brain surgery of a kind which leads to an automatic 'do not drive' for a certain number of months.

My FIL has faced similar delays in the years since he had to go onto annual review, in his case he was allowed to drive while he waited for the medical evidence to be gathered and a 'verdict' returned. In his case I think the delays worked in his favour.

missblue wrote: »

Maybe that's why the opinion seems to be that the length of time has correlation to the difficulty or quality of the decision that is yet to be made. I don't think that's the case, I think it is a seriously underfunded department and if the mainstreams had so few people working in relation to the clients needing the service with such a huge backlog, it would be completely unacceptable.

I wouldn't disagree with you about the department being seriously underfunded and the waits being unacceptable, however IMO it doesn't JUST affect disabled people, unless you have a wider view of 'disabled' than I do.

I got the impression that for brain surgery, they had a medical panel which met to make decisions, and that the panel did not meet very often. I may be wrong about that. And as in jack_pott's case, my consultant just ignored the letter from the DVLA, and his secretary's reponse when I phoned to chase this after a couple of months was that he was very busy. Obviously in the grand scheme of neurology, responding to queries from the DVLA was way down the list behind dealing with patients - and as someone who'd had their brain surgery postponed, I can hardly complain about that.

missblue

DomRavioli wrote: »

I have experience of getting a medical for a driving licence. As I collated my info beforehand, I had a decision in 7 weeks.

Are you kidding me - that sentence is the only reply you needed to make, why didn't you say that in the first place, maybe its because you don't want everyone to do the same and then you would not be able to jump the waiting list yourself, 7 weeks is not really experience of waiting in backlog. What was all the other condescension for.

Anyway this is very helpful

DomRavioli wrote: »

I have experience of getting a medical for a driving licence. As I collated my info beforehand, I had a decision in 7 weeks.

Next week I will take my son into the DVLA office and ask for an appointment, we will bring all medical diagnoses, letters etc and see if it will help any ambiguous information they have and then maybe he will jump up the list too, like you.

missblue

Savvy-Sue I was using disabled to include everyone that needs medical clearance to drive and those using this disability board, which your right is a huge group.

Safetyone

Get in touch with Oliver Morley the CEO at DVLA very helpful for a bloke in his position

DomRavioli

missblue wrote: »

Are you kidding me - that sentence is the only reply you needed to make, why didn't you say that in the first place, maybe its because you don't want everyone to do the same and then you would not be able to jump the waiting list yourself, 7 weeks is not really experience of waiting in backlog. What was all the other condescension for.

Anyway this is very helpful Next week I will take my son into the DVLA office and ask for an appointment, we will bring all medical diagnoses, letters etc and see if it will help any ambiguous information they have and then maybe he will jump up the list too, like you.

Firstly, I no longer have a licence due to my disability. So I'd suggest you mind your manners. I didn't "jump the waiting list" - I had a consultant who had provided the information up front to myself and a secretary who was aware and ready to confirm. The 7 weeks was the first time I had to go for a medical, and not the only time. (Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

I waited 19 months when I voluntarily gave up my licence to them coming back with the dreaded no verdict. Not that you have any clue how that feels, to lose your livelyhood (I cannot use public transport, and worked 29 miles away) because of something you acquired at 27 years of age.

And I'm not sure why you want to make an appointment with evidence - surely you should have sent that in with the original application?

And I have ZERO clue where this whole "jump the list" tosh has come from. It is absolute rubbish - I just did what the form asked me to do, let everyone know and they did it.

I suggest you stop trying to maliciously make up false rumours and concentrate on your disabled child.

kazzah

when I applied for my sons provisional licence 7 years ago I was told the "target" time for completing the paperwork after all evidence has been gathered - in fact it did take about 25 weeks

what i struggled the most with were the questions which did not take account of a provisional application - they may have changed now because it was something along the lines of " do you have difficulty controlling a car? "

I felt silly putting " I don't know because he can't drive one yet as he hasn't got a licence".........

I do remember thinking the questions seemed to be more geared for people who had become disabled after holding a driving licence previously and who had some experience on the road.

missblue

Thanks kazzah, there should be a target time for when they have all the information, they wouldn't tell me anything. 25 weeks means anytime now, and gives us hope it might be a yes, if they had told me that it would have helped so much, anyway fingers crossed we hear soon.
I was really surprised there was no physical in the car assessment for a provisional licence, they sent me out 3 different medical question forms and some questions were different and more applicable. My son had a driving assessment done at the Go driving exhibition when he was 15 years old, so I use that to answer most questions. We were so exited that finally something good for being born disabled, he could learn to drive at 16 yrs old (we applied before his 16th birthday) and now he's 17 and still not heard. Were are going through transition, and services are just disappearing over night, we need that letter for his annual review, particularly if its a no, I was thinking from the sensible answers I have received that it was taking longer because its going to be a no.

kazzah

now unless things have changed ( which they MAY have done) I understood that you could only get a provisional at 16 if the young person was in receipt of high rate mobility ( or would qualify for HR)

just wondering if that might be part of the delay ??

missblue

He is a full-time wheelchair user and therefore meets the criteria for 16 years. He is fully able to drive using hand controls, so it should not be that. Because he is stable, he does not have a consultant, which means its more likely the hold up is GP has been wishy washy on the report (again that's me guessing on others experiences, without the DVLA being honest and open with what is going on, it's very difficult to tell, hopefully meeting with them will bring some clarity).

Peter2110

I've had same issue with Dvla they are a joke they are a law to them selfs