Meer
New Member
This is a bit of a long story, so I’ll try to keep it ascondensed as possible.
Back in March, I was suffering from depression and I wasprescribed a medication and told, ‘You need to tell the DVLA that you’re takingthis, but it’s not a problem driving whilst on it’. So I did tell the DVLA.Then the DVLA wrote to my doctor asking for a ‘report’ on my condition. Mydoctor ‘forgot’ to send the report back (unbeknown to me) and the months wentby, I got better and was ‘signed off’ as better.
As it later transpired, the DVLA wrote repeatedly untileventually another doctor in the practice filled out the form and sent it back.Sadly, not only did he tick the box ‘Psychotic depression’, but he also saidthat I was not better, despite me having been better for months and notesexisting on the practice computer system saying so.
The DVLA then sent me a letter stating that my license wasrevoked. I then went to the GP who wrote a letter saying that I was better. Igot a copy of the report which was sent to DVLA and a couple of days later satdown with my doctor to fill it out correctly. This time it said I was betterand that I had suffered mild depression. On the form there is a section for‘Alcohol’. I had previously told my doctor that I consumed 1.5 bottles of wineover a weekend and nothing during the week. When the new form was sent back tothe DVLA reapplying for my license, I got another form back from them – a DR1form – which asks you many questions about alcohol consumption (and other areasto do with illicit drugs etc). Question 3 on the form has these questions.
3a. How often do youhave a drink containing alcohol?
b. How many units ofalcohol do you drink on a
typical day when youare drinking?
c. Howoften have you had 6 or more units if female, or 8
or more if male, on asingle occasion in the last year?
d. When did you lasthave a drink?
e. How much alcohol was consumed on the last occasion?
Taking these one at a time.
a) Sofar as doctors are concerned, you can a drink every day of the week – so longas you stay below the 6/8 unit rule, you’re ok. However if you only drink on aSunday, and you exceed the 6/8 rule – you’re in trouble.
b) Again– if you exceed the 6/8 rule, you’re sunk.
c) Taking365 days in a year. Suppose you drink on a Saturday/Sunday and you’ve alreadytold your doctor that you drink one bottle of wine on each of these days – youhave to answer 104 to this question. Sound good? Nope.
d) Takingd) and e) together, this is a senseless question. Somebody could drink a bottleof vodka one day, and then a small beer the next day and answer this questionin a way that indicates minor alcohol consumption.
At the same time you receive theDR1 form, your doctor will have received a similar form. So whatever your doctorhas been told by you (or others?) is what they will write. When both forms arereceived back at DVLA they compare them.
Even if you’ve got an unblemisheddriving record, if they see anything which exceeds the 6/8 rule on what theyconsider a regular basis (what’s that? Once a month? Once a week?) then theyclassify you as a binge drinker and you are, in their opinion, a potentialhigh risk driver. So your reapplication will be refused, and you’ll then be inthe same boat as somebody who’s been done for drink driving. That means you’vethen got to prove that you’ve been off alcohol for a year (ideally) and theDVLA will run blood tests to prove that.
Getting back to the number ofunits consumed in one day. Suppose you do drink a bottle of wine on a Sunday,starting at midday. A bottle has 10 units in it. So you should be clear by10pm. You start driving at, say, 8am the next morning. You have a further ten hours of beingclear. Conversely, a person who goes out every night and drinks 8 units,finishing at midnight, could just be down to zero at 8am. The whole process ofjudging a person’s fitness to drive seems to me to be extremely flawed.
In summary.
If you get put onto a medication that needs to be notifiedto the DVLA, it kick-starts a process whereby the DVLA can enquire into allaspects of your health. Doctors can make mistakes filling out forms and then,with no notice, your license can be revoked. You then have to go through a lengthyprocess answering any and all questions the DVLA may wish to ask. Some questionsI find rather insidious. For example they ask for your phone numbers – and emailaddress. Why? They never call you or email you. In fact communications arepainfully slow. Anything you send them takes between 3 days and 2 weeks to bescanned into their system before they start to do anything with it. Anythingthey send to you is sent by second class post. Nothing by them is done over the ‘phoneor via email.
They do have an enquiry line, and if you do not press theright numbers on the automated system, you get dumped into a recorded message.But eventually you will get through to a human being. The people who man thecall centre are reluctant to give you any information. For example, if you askthem which doctor filled out a form, they will say that they cannot give you thatinformation. But if you ask ‘Did Dr Smith fill out the form?’, then they cananswer Yes/No.
Here are some tips on how to speed the process up. Ring themand ask them what the latest ‘action’ has been on their system. They might saythat they’ve sent you a form. Ask which form it was and you can then downloadthat form from dirct.gov.uk. (Eg. DR1). You can then print that form off, fillit in and then scan it back into your computer. You can then email the form tothem and it will be added to the system a lot faster than if you send it bypost. In the case of a DR1 form, you email it to eftd@dvla.gsi.gov.uk. Ask them whichemail address to send the form back to. Different forms may need a differentemail address. You can save weeks of time doing this!!! Also, tell your doctorto email or Fax forms back to the DVLA. Faxed forms get dealt with faster thanpost forms. Check what your doctor puts on any forms. Your doctor should behappy to give you a copy. Try and make sure that the answers on your form matchwhat the doctor puts.
And it’s what the doctor puts that matters. If you *ever*tell a doctor that you drink x units of alcohol a day/week – that will bereported to the DVLA. You might never have driven whilst under the influence,but the DVLA are scared that you might do, and they’ll effectively ban you eventhough you’ve never committed an offence. Seems unfair to me. But thistightening up has happened this year following Home Office directives to theDVLA telling them to do so.
I’m still fighting for my license to be given back. Allbecause I was on a medication that needed to be reported to the DVLA (And I wasonly on it for a short while), and a doctor made horrendous mistakes fillingout my form, and I’d innocently told my doctor about drinking only on theweekend.
I’m not advocating that anybody should tell a lie. What I amsaying is, a) Check before taking any medication, and if it requires you to tellthe DVLA – discuss further with your doctor. b) Don’t trust anybody to fill outa form. Ask your doctor to fill out any forms with you present. Get a copy ofthe completed form. c) If you drink more than the 6/8 rule on a ‘regular’ basis,you are classified as a binge drinker and you will be considered high risk bythe DVLA. d) Try to check that any health issues get resolved before it gets tothe attention of DVLA, whilst you adhere to rules governing what you need toreport to them. e) If you do get into a ping pong situation with the DVLA, tryand download forms and send replies via email/fax.
What I find incredible, is that if the driving populationanswered the DR1 form truthfully then I suspect that the DVLA would have to ban80% of drivers. That’s my guestimate.
End of.
Back in March, I was suffering from depression and I wasprescribed a medication and told, ‘You need to tell the DVLA that you’re takingthis, but it’s not a problem driving whilst on it’. So I did tell the DVLA.Then the DVLA wrote to my doctor asking for a ‘report’ on my condition. Mydoctor ‘forgot’ to send the report back (unbeknown to me) and the months wentby, I got better and was ‘signed off’ as better.
As it later transpired, the DVLA wrote repeatedly untileventually another doctor in the practice filled out the form and sent it back.Sadly, not only did he tick the box ‘Psychotic depression’, but he also saidthat I was not better, despite me having been better for months and notesexisting on the practice computer system saying so.
The DVLA then sent me a letter stating that my license wasrevoked. I then went to the GP who wrote a letter saying that I was better. Igot a copy of the report which was sent to DVLA and a couple of days later satdown with my doctor to fill it out correctly. This time it said I was betterand that I had suffered mild depression. On the form there is a section for‘Alcohol’. I had previously told my doctor that I consumed 1.5 bottles of wineover a weekend and nothing during the week. When the new form was sent back tothe DVLA reapplying for my license, I got another form back from them – a DR1form – which asks you many questions about alcohol consumption (and other areasto do with illicit drugs etc). Question 3 on the form has these questions.
3a. How often do youhave a drink containing alcohol?
b. How many units ofalcohol do you drink on a
typical day when youare drinking?
c. Howoften have you had 6 or more units if female, or 8
or more if male, on asingle occasion in the last year?
d. When did you lasthave a drink?
e. How much alcohol was consumed on the last occasion?
Taking these one at a time.
a) Sofar as doctors are concerned, you can a drink every day of the week – so longas you stay below the 6/8 unit rule, you’re ok. However if you only drink on aSunday, and you exceed the 6/8 rule – you’re in trouble.
b) Again– if you exceed the 6/8 rule, you’re sunk.
c) Taking365 days in a year. Suppose you drink on a Saturday/Sunday and you’ve alreadytold your doctor that you drink one bottle of wine on each of these days – youhave to answer 104 to this question. Sound good? Nope.
d) Takingd) and e) together, this is a senseless question. Somebody could drink a bottleof vodka one day, and then a small beer the next day and answer this questionin a way that indicates minor alcohol consumption.
At the same time you receive theDR1 form, your doctor will have received a similar form. So whatever your doctorhas been told by you (or others?) is what they will write. When both forms arereceived back at DVLA they compare them.
Even if you’ve got an unblemisheddriving record, if they see anything which exceeds the 6/8 rule on what theyconsider a regular basis (what’s that? Once a month? Once a week?) then theyclassify you as a binge drinker and you are, in their opinion, a potentialhigh risk driver. So your reapplication will be refused, and you’ll then be inthe same boat as somebody who’s been done for drink driving. That means you’vethen got to prove that you’ve been off alcohol for a year (ideally) and theDVLA will run blood tests to prove that.
Getting back to the number ofunits consumed in one day. Suppose you do drink a bottle of wine on a Sunday,starting at midday. A bottle has 10 units in it. So you should be clear by10pm. You start driving at, say, 8am the next morning. You have a further ten hours of beingclear. Conversely, a person who goes out every night and drinks 8 units,finishing at midnight, could just be down to zero at 8am. The whole process ofjudging a person’s fitness to drive seems to me to be extremely flawed.
In summary.
If you get put onto a medication that needs to be notifiedto the DVLA, it kick-starts a process whereby the DVLA can enquire into allaspects of your health. Doctors can make mistakes filling out forms and then,with no notice, your license can be revoked. You then have to go through a lengthyprocess answering any and all questions the DVLA may wish to ask. Some questionsI find rather insidious. For example they ask for your phone numbers – and emailaddress. Why? They never call you or email you. In fact communications arepainfully slow. Anything you send them takes between 3 days and 2 weeks to bescanned into their system before they start to do anything with it. Anythingthey send to you is sent by second class post. Nothing by them is done over the ‘phoneor via email.
They do have an enquiry line, and if you do not press theright numbers on the automated system, you get dumped into a recorded message.But eventually you will get through to a human being. The people who man thecall centre are reluctant to give you any information. For example, if you askthem which doctor filled out a form, they will say that they cannot give you thatinformation. But if you ask ‘Did Dr Smith fill out the form?’, then they cananswer Yes/No.
Here are some tips on how to speed the process up. Ring themand ask them what the latest ‘action’ has been on their system. They might saythat they’ve sent you a form. Ask which form it was and you can then downloadthat form from dirct.gov.uk. (Eg. DR1). You can then print that form off, fillit in and then scan it back into your computer. You can then email the form tothem and it will be added to the system a lot faster than if you send it bypost. In the case of a DR1 form, you email it to eftd@dvla.gsi.gov.uk. Ask them whichemail address to send the form back to. Different forms may need a differentemail address. You can save weeks of time doing this!!! Also, tell your doctorto email or Fax forms back to the DVLA. Faxed forms get dealt with faster thanpost forms. Check what your doctor puts on any forms. Your doctor should behappy to give you a copy. Try and make sure that the answers on your form matchwhat the doctor puts.
And it’s what the doctor puts that matters. If you *ever*tell a doctor that you drink x units of alcohol a day/week – that will bereported to the DVLA. You might never have driven whilst under the influence,but the DVLA are scared that you might do, and they’ll effectively ban you eventhough you’ve never committed an offence. Seems unfair to me. But thistightening up has happened this year following Home Office directives to theDVLA telling them to do so.
I’m still fighting for my license to be given back. Allbecause I was on a medication that needed to be reported to the DVLA (And I wasonly on it for a short while), and a doctor made horrendous mistakes fillingout my form, and I’d innocently told my doctor about drinking only on theweekend.
I’m not advocating that anybody should tell a lie. What I amsaying is, a) Check before taking any medication, and if it requires you to tellthe DVLA – discuss further with your doctor. b) Don’t trust anybody to fill outa form. Ask your doctor to fill out any forms with you present. Get a copy ofthe completed form. c) If you drink more than the 6/8 rule on a ‘regular’ basis,you are classified as a binge drinker and you will be considered high risk bythe DVLA. d) Try to check that any health issues get resolved before it gets tothe attention of DVLA, whilst you adhere to rules governing what you need toreport to them. e) If you do get into a ping pong situation with the DVLA, tryand download forms and send replies via email/fax.
What I find incredible, is that if the driving populationanswered the DR1 form truthfully then I suspect that the DVLA would have to ban80% of drivers. That’s my guestimate.
End of.
