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Sat 17 Jul 2021 15:33

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

So in august last year I had a seizure whilst asleep. My specialist said that dvla should not ban me. I had had a pr3bious one back in 2016. It was put down to stress and not epilepsy. I had all the tests. Sadly my specialist died of cancer before dvla wrote to him. However they Still banned me even though my gp advised they were sleep seizures.

I wrote to relicense st the beginning of June as they advised,

Of course now it appears there is no chance I’ll get my license back at the beginning of august.

I do note that if you have surrendered your license then you can drive during this period but not if it’s revoked.

Even though my doctor is happy for me to drive as I’ve never had a seizure while awake I find the whole situation very very unfair and deeply frustrating.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 15:44

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - _

I have been going through some of this with my macular degeneration/eyesight..

It isn't just about you, it is about the safety of other people around you as well.

As I have written on here before, Far better safe than sorry.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:26

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

No, it’s about DVLA not doing what they should do.
It’s also ruining my business.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:19

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - RT

The delays at DVLA due to Covid are very unfair as they come on top of delays during medical reviews - my licence was revoked in 2018, the condition requiring a mandatory 6 months "ban" but despite re-applying after 3 months with support from all my consultants, it took DVLA 10 months to re-issue my licence. I got the distinct impression that they'll only write to one doctor at a time and wait until they've reviewed his reply before writing to the next on the list. I'm glad I'm not in that position now as drivers are likely to be waiting years not months.

My 1-year licence expired in February 2021, I re-applied in November 2020, but I've heard nothing so I continue driving under section 88 and could be driving for years at their present rate of progress!

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:32

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

I can’t even drive under section 88 as it was revoked not surrendered

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:39

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - _

Yes, It is tough, but 1.4 million people are in the same boat, waiting for renewals and log books.

While individually, some of us feel hard done by, There is safety to consider.

In my humble opinion, that trumps all other aspects.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:41

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

Yer just destroys more lives in different ways because I should not have been banned

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:42

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

And why can I not drive while questions are asked

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 16:45

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Bromptonaut

And why can I not drive while questions are asked

Perhaps because the answers to the questions could be that you should not be driving?

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 17:10

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - _

Yer just destroys more lives in different ways because I should not have been banned

You were stopped from driving BECAUSE there was/is a query./risk.

If DVLA allow someone to drive without doing their job properly and a driver hits and kills or maims one of your loved ones, How will you feel then.?

Put yourself in the position of being in front of a judge and saying sorry... but...

The DVAL have no choice under law other than to satisfy themselves fully that any one is a fit driver.

Yes, I am sorry that you are in that situation, but aneighbour had a fall, hitting his hed and was told to stop driving till all the checks were done. Sadly passed away in April.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 17:11

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - RT

Yes, It is tough, but 1.4 million people are in the same boat, waiting for renewals and log books.

While individually, some of us feel hard done by, There is safety to consider.

In my humble opinion, that trumps all other aspects.

Renewals and log books don't affect the authorisation to drive - it's medical revocations that are being specifically hit as people cannot continue driving while it's sorted out.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 17:36

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - sammy1

Yes the pandemic has affected the DVLA but the recent strikes over so called unsafe working conditions is not helping. Hundreds of thousands of people have worked right through since day one in all sorts of occupations and in more dangerous situations.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 18:08

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Bromptonaut

Yes the pandemic has affected the DVLA but the recent strikes over so called unsafe working conditions is not helping. Hundreds of thousands of people have worked right through since day one in all sorts of occupations and in more dangerous situations.

Why do you say 'so called' unsafe working conditions?

Do you have any direct knowledge?

Who are the people who have worked through from day 1?

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 19:26

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Rerepo

Yes the pandemic has affected the DVLA but the recent strikes over so called unsafe working conditions is not helping. Hundreds of thousands of people have worked right through since day one in all sorts of occupations and in more dangerous situations.

Indeed..! Shop and warehouse workers, delivery drivers, cleaners etc have just got on with it - the Bulldog Spirit that served us well through two world wars. Unfortunately the heavily unionised Civil Service continue to fail the country.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 19:58

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - sammy1

Why do you say 'so called' unsafe working conditions?

Do you have any direct knowledge?

Who are the people who have worked through from day 1?

Where have you been the last 18moths, try the NHS for one Who made and supplied the food that you buy and who delivered it and served you in the supermarkets As regards unsafe working, again say no more than the civil service union. No I do not have first hand knowledge but I feel sure that their employers like all employers have made all reasonable measures to keep employees as safe as possible I just hope the tax payer is not paying some of these people. They should be ashamed when measured against others who have performed over and above what was required of them

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 20:44

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Terry W

I too have personal experience of being advised not to drive - now sorted.

In my opinion DVLA are profoundly hopeless. They are inefficiency personified.

I have no issue with refusing permission to drive in the case of those who may present a risk to other road users or themselves. But delays in reaching conclusions on cases mean at the very least frustration, and at worst considerable stress and lost livelihoods.

They work for us - they should not be a law unto themselves. They need a radical reorganisation and change of culture.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 21:15

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - SLO76

I’ve been directly affected by this too. About a year ago and after going through several GP’s to try and solve an ongoing mystery ailment that was causing neck, lower back pain, a general feeling of being unwell and being a bit lightheaded kinda like a constant mild flu. Turned out after 5 GP’s and countless tests and and visits to hospitals with a suspected heart defect believe it or not, it took my dentist to spot that it was my wisdom teeth that were poisoning me.

But the final GP I visited overreacted and demanded that I contact the DVLA despite never having had any blackouts or dizzy spells, nothing that could cause an accident. I felt like I had a mild flu or cold, a bit muggy headed and generally a bit unwell with loads of joint pain. The DVLA took my PSV licence, leaving my car and perversely my 7.5 tonne category in place.

Now a year later I applied to have my licence fully reinstated back in March with my GP on the form and my dentist as consultant but once I contacted my less than helpful GP he informed me that he can’t comment on dental issues and will reply as such when the DVLA write to him as astoundingly your dental files are not accessible by your GP or the NHS in general. I then contacted DVLA medical to inform them that they’d need to contact my dentist and they replied that they could only write to my GP who can’t help them. It’s honestly i****ic.

My firm is desperately short of drivers as are most other bus and road haulage firms yet many of us are stuck waiting on an intractable and incompetent DVLA and NHS moving into the 21st century. All medical files should be centrally stored and accessible by all relevant parties and all contact between doctors and the DVLA should be done instantaneously by email instead of by letter and in particular professional drivers should be prioritised. The time it took the NHS to figure out what was wrong with me has cost me over a year of my life and left me with chronic neck pain and tinnitus plus it could’ve cost me my job had I not been a staff trainer beforehand.

Wee reminder though how vulnerable you are in the heavy goods or passenger transport industry. All it takes is a relatively minor health issue and an overly anal GP to cost you your job. I absolutely sympathise here. If you’ve never had a seizure while awake you should still be able to drive, even if some restrictions were to be placed on your licence. I await mine with little confidence.

Edited by SLO76 on 17/07/2021 at 21:17

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 21:19

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - John F

So in august last year I had a seizure whilst asleep. ......I had had a pr3bious one back in 2016. ........banned me even though my gp advised they were sleep seizures.

Quite right. See pp 18 - 20 in this document...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upload...f

I wrote to relicense st the beginning of June as they advised, Of course now it appears there is no chance I’ll get my license back at the beginning of august.

Can't see why not, if it's been a year since the last sleep seizure. Do let us know if you haven't got it by the date in August when you had the last seizure.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 21:28

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Rerepo

You can bet all those unionised DVLA workers who are so concerned about their dangerous working coNditions will have been out and about today, in supermarkets, restaurants, possibly to the beach.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 21:30

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - RT

So in august last year I had a seizure whilst asleep. ......I had had a pr3bious one back in 2016. ........banned me even though my gp advised they were sleep seizures.

Quite right. See pp 18 - 20 in this document...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upload...f

I wrote to relicense st the beginning of June as they advised, Of course now it appears there is no chance I’ll get my license back at the beginning of august.

Can't see why not, if it's been a year since the last sleep seizure. Do let us know if you haven't got it by the date in August when you had the last seizure.

The point is that DVLA don't/can't/won't process reinstatement applications in the 3 months at the best of times - with Covid and strikes the delay is many months now.

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Sat 17 Jul 2021 22:07

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - sammy1

Boris has been harping on for quite a while now about " evening up " between north and south. He could start by looking at the civil service with a view to bring them into the real world with the private sector. What is so special about working for the government that we the taxpayers are paying for all their perks and getting poor service in return

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Sun 18 Jul 2021 07:10

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Xileno

'Levelling up' is an attempt to deal with regional inequalities, not an attempt to deal with differences in terms and conditions of employment between sectors. Time will tell whether the Govt. are successful in this.

If people have had bad experiences with DVLA then that's fair enough to discuss them but can we be careful please not to let this become a generalised Civil Service v private sector debate, threads of such contentious issues tend to end up in the same predictable place.

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Sun 18 Jul 2021 09:06

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - sammy1

Sure, but at the end of the day the argument comes down to productivity and the one is miles behind the other for various reasons hence some of the problems in the DVLA which has a history of poor working relationships.

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Sun 18 Jul 2021 13:01

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Bromptonaut

Sure, but at the end of the day the argument comes down to productivity and the one is miles behind the other for various reasons hence some of the problems in the DVLA which has a history of poor working relationships.

If productivity is to improve there needs to be investment, something governments of both stripes have been reluctant to provide.

The DVLA buildings were put up nearly 50years ago when vehicle and driver registration was removed from local government and centralised. Since then the space allowed for a single member of staff at any grade has reduced over and over. People were, pre Covid, literally shoulder to shoulder. Lifts are essential to get to and from workspaces.

If the management want you to work in ways that defy, or sail very close to the regulations then you're entitled to object. Unions are there to facilitate that.

These employees are clerks and managers. Whataboutery over health care workers or speculation about habits out of the office don't advance the situation one iota.

If everybody is expected to return to the office next week industrial relations are not going to get any better.

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Sun 18 Jul 2021 17:14

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - SLO76

Private firms have responded to the challenges of working through Covid far better than our state run equivalents. Banks, call centres and other service industries quickly embraced technology which allowed staff to work from home which allowed things to get back to near normal quickly. The DVLA and the NHS are still in the dark ages by comparison and it’s costing UK industry a crippling fortune. We’ve all read the recent stories about goods going to waste in warehouses due to a lack of truck drivers and less reported is the desperate shortage of bus drivers. A big part of this is the lack of the DVLA being able to contact doctors by email instead of post and then GP’s are all too often disinterested in responding. It should be done by email and all medical files linked. Any private business run in such a fashion would’ve failed long ago. I don’t blame the staff, I blame management, politicians and often intractable trade unions who often stand in the way of progress. That said I agree with them here. If new technology had been implemented and a degree of flexibility then there would be no need for large scale return to site for DVLA staff.

Edited by SLO76 on 18/07/2021 at 17:16

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Sun 18 Jul 2021 17:41

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - _

I agree with you Slo..

Youngrovergirl has to go to the Hospital to do telephone clinics as they cannot provide encrypted laptops to use off site. She could not isolate with me from last saturday while I waited to go in for urgent surgery tuesday. Her presence, even at the risk of infecting me again before surgery was a risk the NJS was prepared to take. In an office with secretaries and healthcare assistants all crowded in.....

On the surgical ward the staff were/are tested daily, and closed to all outsiders.

Happily it all worked out, and I was allowed to escape that evening to be cared for at home for the following 24 hours.

The DVlA should be re-regionalised on the basis of up to date information systems, not windows 97/2000 or whatever ancient system they have, and yes, they could do so much more with modern technology.

Get on To wee Krankie to get the scottish DVLA relocated as a start.

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Mon 19 Jul 2021 05:08

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Falkirk Bairn

A daughter-in-law fainted back in September 2020. She came round within 1 minute. 2 months later she had again fainted but instead of sitting down she fainted in the garden. Neighbours came and she was looked at by a doctor in emergency

Immediately banned from driving

She is epileptic (on same tablets & 100% for 25 years) due to being born with the cord around her neck - this was not an epileptic episode but she was banned from driving. The full power of the Texas insurance & health providers came into play - she saw heart specialists (consultations, monitoring, MRI) she saw neurologists (MRI & other scans) ................ it goes on & on into specialist areas I never knew existed

None of the specialists seem to work in a hospital but they are all independents in offices - sending patients to hospitals for scans etc etc. None of these specialists seem to speak to each other - they speak to or through the insurer!

3 weeks ago she got her licence back - all it took was a Neurologist Letter to Licence people. Despite spending many tens of thousands of insurance payments ($5,000 excess) nothing found.

Not having driven for 9 months her confidence, which has never been great on Texas roads, in driving has fallen, so a big job there to get her back driving on 10/12 lane each way highways! I must admit I would not fancy driving on these multilane roads - the M25 used to scare me 30/40 years ago - not the number of lanes but being "boxed in"

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Mon 19 Jul 2021 08:40

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Falkirk Bairn

Wee Krankie & co seem to specialise in the Anti-Midas touch

Ferries, railways, school standards, health (pre Covid and ongoing), housing, .....................

the list is almost infinite or maybe even beyond infinity

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Sun 18 Jul 2021 20:26

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - hjd

At the beginning of October 2020 my son had a fall whilst out walking, banged his head and the passerby who called 999 reported he was having a seizure.

Doctor in neurology department insisted that it was treated as suspected epilepsy and thus he should not drive. Was advised to voluntarily surrender his licence which he did. As he had fractured and dislocated his shoulder he wouldn't have been able to drive for a while anyway.

After various scans the (different) doctor who eventually saw him in March 2021 went through his brain scans with him and said that there was absolutely no evidence of epilepsy and any possible seizure would have been as a result of falling and hitting his head. Doctor advised that he would be fine to drive.

If you voluntarily surrender your licence then you cannot drive or apply for your licence back until six months have passed since the incident. Come the beginning of April he filled in all the forms and sent them back to DVLA. They did try to tell him that they didn't have the forms so he sent copies again. He tried several times to contact them but no answer on the phone. He started driving again from six months after the accident.

His licence arrived back last week, just over three months after he sent in the forms to DVLA. The neurology department at our local hospital doesn't reply to phone calls and gives out an incorrect email for contact, so we don't know how long DVLA took to do their bit and how much was due to waiting for a response from neurology.

We don't know how long this process would take in "normal" times of course.

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Mon 19 Jul 2021 08:39

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - John F

DVLA worked fine for me. A few weeks ago I sent them my TR7's V5C plus an application form for 'historic vehicle' tax class. Within four weeks of my second class posting I had a new 'historic vehicle' V5C from them.

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Tue 20 Jul 2021 13:19

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

So in august last year I had a seizure whilst asleep. ......I had had a pr3bious one back in 2016. ........banned me even though my gp advised they were sleep seizures.

Quite right. See pp 18 - 20 in this document...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upload...f

I wrote to relicense st the beginning of June as they advised, Of course now it appears there is no chance I’ll get my license back at the beginning of august.

Can't see why not, if it's been a year since the last sleep seizure. Do let us know if you haven't got it by the date in August when you had the last seizure.

Still no word from DVLA about writing to my GP or anything. On another matter, I don't seem to be getting emails alerting me to updates on this forum. Is there a setting I'm supposed to be changing?

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Tue 20 Jul 2021 13:27

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Xileno

No email updates, you just have to look in every now and again. Years ago (about 2002 I think) we had email updates but the functionality was removed due to a security issue I seem to recall.

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Tue 20 Jul 2021 13:43

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

No email updates, you just have to look in every now and again. Years ago (about 2002 I think) we had email updates but the functionality was removed due to a security issue I seem to recall.

okay thanks

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Tue 3 Aug 2021 12:52

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - simowhu

No licence back as it's over a year now. Medical department at DVLA on strike for a month now. Great isn't. There was a deal to avert industrial action but that well known i**** Grant Shapps pulled it.

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Mon 19 Jul 2021 14:49

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Warning

My father is n't so keen on driving due to age. Although he does so for trips to the supermarket.

It would be great if there was driverless cars.....

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Mon 19 Jul 2021 14:58

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - _

My father is n't so keen on driving due to age. Although he does so for trips to the supermarket.

It would be great if there was driverless cars.....

I had to isolate pre-op last week and then not drive for 72 hours after a general anaesthetic,

local taxis were useful, and probably cheaper than running the car, combined with being 100 metres from a bus stop with daytime 20 or 30 minute services.

No brainer for me.

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Tue 3 Aug 2021 13:21

BMW 4 Series - Dvla medical - Terry W

DVLA have ~6000 staff in Swansea, unchanged since 2014. They are a major local employer.

It seems odd to me that with advances in IT etc they have not reduced staff further. Perhaps the apparent poor customer service and delays is more about justifying and protecting jobs, rather than overwork and under-staffing as such.

Either way, the service provided is simply not acceptable.

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