Dvla medical a compete sham!

Convicted Driver Insurance

NEETS

New Member
Hi there,

Im new to this site and this whole discussion. I've been reading up A LOT about this whole DVLA medical exam for HRO's and frankly I think the whole thing is utterly shambolic! I lost my licence 16 months ago because I got into my car after being attacked on a dark country road whilst waiting for a taxi! The only safe place for me to go was to my car and even then it was pitch black so I drove less than half a mile and seemingly the only other people around, apart from my attacker, were the overzealous police. The seemed very uninterested in the attacker and his whereabouts and more interested in 'processing' me despite being merely less than a mile away from my point of origin.

So, now, as a high risk offender (in their opinion - mine is that I was a victim that night! but I shan't harp on about the conviction I got from a heartless magistrate - yes, I contested it and no, I didn't win!) I have to take a DVLA medical. Im due to get my licence back on around 7th July and have a medical booked for this coming Monday. I'm not a heavy drinker but I am stressed beyond belief! In all honesty, I have friends on the road who have't been done for drink driving who wouldn't pass this test in a million years and yet, here I am, the person who drinks the least out of my group of friends who has to jump through the DVLA's unbelievable hoops - and they are just that, everyone is making money off this awful situation. As if the shame of it all isn't enough!

I decided to take the matter into my own hands however and beat them to it (just so I know where I stand) and got an independent blood test done this week with medichecks (again, another company fleecing people who are scared sh**tless about the outcome from the DVLA'S Dr - not our own!!). Today I got the results back but they don't have anything in the report other than a result of the following:

CHO: DEFECIENT TRANSFERRIN .7% CHO TH deficient Transferrin
 
Sorry....my thread got cut off.

So, on top of all of that, I have phoned the Doctor that the DVLA instructed as my only option and was told that they only do these tests on Mondays and Tuesdays. Bad luck if you work on those days, right? So I've made my appointment for this coming Monday but I'm still stressing about the outcome becuase although my test seems to be okay at .7% it doesn't seem to mention anything about any of the other 'levels' that so many other people keep talking about.

I've chosen not to drink anything at all for the past month and intend not to drink until after my test but I dont' drink much anyway but I'm so worried about all of this frankly. It all costs so much money and I'm reading so many nightmare stories about people getting incorrect results etc.

I don't think anyone should be put under this additional stress. I had been driving for 30 years when I got stung by this situation. It;s caused so much pain in my life that I really didn't deserve.

Does anyone actually understand the results that I have had come back from medichecks. Does it seem correct and like I fall iwthin the right bracket.

Very very stressed! Thanks for any support.
 
Oh right. Thanks for that Drongo. I've been reading about people lowering their ALT, their GGT and AST etc (whatever all that means).

And I've been so stressed out that I don't even know what that all means but people are talking about all sorts of ways of how to lower them etc.

It really makes me so cross though, as a very average drinker, that I got caught in the cross fire of an endemic culture which simply throws the book at seemingly EVERYONE and their individual circumstances just don't seem to matter. You have alcohol in your system - you're guilty! Bad luck that you were attacked and reported it to the police etc.

I hope my result will prove that I don't drink much at all (although I wonder what it would be if someone didn't drink at all - it's all very strange).

Anyway, thanks again so much for your input. I really appreciate it. Just need to go to the DVLA Dr now and get fleeced (in cash mind you - is that even legal to impose that someone has to pay in cash?) on Monday and hope I get my licence back by the 7th July. Ugh.....
 
Oh right. Thanks for that Drongo. I've been reading about people lowering their ALT, their GGT and AST etc (whatever all that means).

And I've been so stressed out that I don't even know what that all means but people are talking about all sorts of ways of how to lower them etc.

It really makes me so cross though, as a very average drinker, that I got caught in the cross fire of an endemic culture which simply throws the book at seemingly EVERYONE and their individual circumstances just don't seem to matter. You have alcohol in your system - you're guilty! Bad luck that you were attacked and reported it to the police etc.

I hope my result will prove that I don't drink much at all (although I wonder what it would be if someone didn't drink at all - it's all very strange).

Anyway, thanks again so much for your input. I really appreciate it. Just need to go to the DVLA Dr now and get fleeced (in cash mind you - is that even legal to impose that someone has to pay in cash?) on Monday and hope I get my licence back by the 7th July. Ugh.....

Hi, I've just replied to your post on another thread but this is slightly different, so I'll post here too.

CDT is the only thing that DVLA test for now. The other readings that you mentioned (gGT, ALT, AST..) are part of the wider liver function tests (LFT's) and used to be what DVLA tested for.
0.7% is very low. However everyone produces some CDT, so it is possible that a strict teetotaller could produce a higher reading than you did.

You were lucky with the availability of appointments at your designated surgery! The one I attended only does the DVLA medicals on a Monday morning 8am to midday, a very small window!

However, to be fair, the surgery doesn't set the fee and of course it's legal to ask for cash!! They're asking for Pounds sterling, not Djiboutian francs!! ? ✌
It would be most unfair if they insisted on debit/credit card payments. After all, you have to pay so presumably you have the funds available/have budgeted for it, so access to cash shouldn't be a problem. Not everyone has a payment card though!

Good luck with your medical on Monday!
 
Last edited:
Neets,
as you got a 16 month ban, do I take it that you failed to provide a satisfactory sample? If it was for a high reading I would have expected you to have got more (or is it 16 months served AFTER a Drink Drive Rehabilitation Course?
 
Hi price 1367

Sadly no, it was after doing the drink driving course that it shaved off several months. The original ban was 23 months! Despite proving that I was attacked etc.....the magistrate still thought that it was worse that I got in my car and drove away instead of sitting in an empty, pitch black car park in the middle of nowhere and tooting my horn (effictively attracking my attacker to where I was).

It's been an unbelievable case of bad judgement on the magistrates part. Cost me a fortune and ruined my life for these many months while, as a single mother I've been unable to drive my children around. I just hope the DVLA move fast to get my licence back to me by my due date of 7th July!
 
A 23 month ban indicates that your breath reading was 90 or more, so quite high.
it sounds like what you put forward were "special reasons" to not disqualify, in that you had no alternative but to drive to escape from a very real threat of violence. At the end of the day, you (and your solicitor) put forward these circumstances and the magistrates make a value judgement on how valid these circumstances were. They must have concluded that you did not have to drive as the threat was not sufficient, or that if there was a threat of significant harm that you drive further than necessary to escape from the threat.
you say it was "in the middle of nowhere." Which begs the question as to how you got there in the first place and if you were over the limit when you did. If it was a house, and you were drinking there, were you drinking with the person who then threatened you? Have you previously been threatened by this person, if so why were you drinking with him? Why didn't you drive 100 yards round the corner and phone the police when safe from him?
these will have been issues that were explored in court, and the magistrates were not persuaded that there were "special reasons." It is possible to appeal against the ban, saying that the magistrates have erred in their conclusion, but this has to be done within 21 days. If the decision was "unbelievable" I am sure that your solicitor would have advised you that this was a course of action that you could have taken.
 
To a certain extent I can sympathise with you and feel your solicitor did not do a good job. However you were charged, had your day in court and were banned for 23 months with the opportunity to reduce your term by taking a course.
I, and a few others on this forum, have been banned for 6 months yet committed no crime. When taking a medical for a mini-bus licence I honestly declared our drinking habits which were not to excess but regular on a nightly basis. I completed a CDT which gave a reading of 2.3%, borderline if I am to believe other threads on this site. I suppose the easiest and simplest action for the DVLA was to metre out 6 months ban for a normal licence and 12 months mini-bus. To contest the ban in the courts would take longer than the ban itself so best just shut up and wait.
Now is that justice?
I have just received my letter to attend my HRO medical five weeks after my ban should have been lifted. What would be the situation if the prisons extended a prisoner's stay in jail for two months without referring the matter back to the courts.
I was not alcohol dependant. I had just drifted into a style of life where I drank most evenings and I did not knowingly DD. I have broken no laws. I offered to pay for any tests the DVLA so wished in order I prove I was not alcohol dependent. My requests feel on deaf ears. To live without alcohol is no big deal. In the last six months I have had a few drinks but few and far between. I still frequently go out and only have a glass or two of wine if dinning out. With friends in the pub (twice/week) I do not drink at all. Not even a glass of water.
NOW I DO FEEL HARD DONE BY
 
Hi, I've just replied to your post on another thread but this is slightly different, so I'll post here too.

CDT is the only thing that DVLA test for now. The other readings that you mentioned (gGT, ALT, AST..) are part of the wider liver function tests (LFT's) and used to be what DVLA tested for.
0.7% is very low. However everyone produces some CDT, so it is possible that a strict teetotaller could produce a higher reading than you did.

You were lucky with the availability of appointments at your designated surgery! The one I attended only does the DVLA medicals on a Monday morning 8am to midday, a very small window!

However, to be fair, the surgery doesn't set the fee and of course it's legal to ask for cash!! They're asking for Pounds sterling, not Djiboutian francs!! ? ✌
It would be most unfair if they insisted on debit/credit card payments. After all, you have to pay so presumably you have the funds available/have budgeted for it, so access to cash shouldn't be a problem. Not everyone has a payment card though!

Good luck with your medical on Monday!
 
Hi i dont suppose ypu got your licence back now if so how long did it take after your medical i had mine today
 
Hi i dont suppose ypu got your licence back now if so how long did it take after your medical i had mine today
Hi Dazler 31. Not sure if your question was aimed at me but as you quoted me and them posted, I'll answer. :)
I've had my licence back for almost 3 years. From having the medical it was no more than 3 weeks until I had my new licence in my hand. Can't remember exact timings now but I think it was 12 working days.
I hope you have had a good result and hopefully your licence back now.
 
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top