HRO test and CDT

Convicted Driver Insurance

Daveb91

Member
Hi there,
I have been banned for 3 months after sleeping off my drinking in a car and getting charged for drunk in charge, this has triggered the HRO scheme as I have had two convictions within ten years. Now I know I shouldn't have slept in my car and what is done, is done. But my worry is that I won't pass the medical. Could you please give me some information on what I should be expecting? cost of the medical, length of time to book it, etc.

Brief drinking history: I am more of a social drinker and can about manage 6 pints on a night out if going big, The night I was caught was one of those type of nights and haven't drunk like that since (1st oct). I have since drunk 3 pints and a few non alcoholic Bavaria drinks but nothing more (with meals). I am awaiting my instruction to apply for the licence and Medical but don't think I will pass the medical. Drs notes are clean, I have never had to go to him for alcoholic help as I don't class myself as dependent on alcohol, forgive me if i sound arrogant.

Other than the weekend drinking I used to have a pint a day with work colleagues at lunch time and on some days I'd maybe go home and have 1 more pint but quite rarely. This has since stopped in September and I won't be doing it again.

My worry is that on the DVLA literature it mentions that it can test drink habits from 12 months ago, while reading on other posts they solely exercise the CDT test which can only detect 4-6 weeks of drinking.

Do you think there is a possibility of failing, I know it is impossible to calculate as I don't know my CDT levels but maybe someone in a similar situation can help?

I have had some life experience in all this and if you have questions regarding other drink driving processes then don't hesitate to contact, maybe I can be of help too.

Cheers!
 
Hello,
DVLA currently use CDT testing. You are right in that this only detects drinking in the 4-6 weeks previous. From what you have stated I think you should be fine to pass. I am a weekend binger and I have myself 19 days of abstinence following a pretty big binge ? I am awaiting my results.
From my experience the DVLA will send you out your D1 form which you fill in and then send back then they write to you stating you need to attend a medical with details of the nearest doctor to perform it. It costs 98.50 cash on the day. It’s basic physical exam followed by a blood test.
 
Hello,
DVLA currently use CDT testing. You are right in that this only detects drinking in the 4-6 weeks previous. From what you have stated I think you should be fine to pass. I am a weekend binger and I have myself 19 days of abstinence following a pretty big binge ? I am awaiting my results.
From my experience the DVLA will send you out your D1 form which you fill in and then send back then they write to you stating you need to attend a medical with details of the nearest doctor to perform it. It costs 98.50 cash on the day. It’s basic physical exam followed by a blood test.

Hi miserable,
Thank you for the quick reply! the problem with being convicted is that it feels like you have murdered an entire family. We know that anyone can be caught out and even the medical proffesionals analysing our blood is probably borderline safe, we all make mistakes as we are human.

Fingers crossed for your results! hope all goes well for you and be back on the road soon. Let me know the results :D
Ah right, I thought they were going to send me another form along with the D1 but that's good news then. I shall apply as soon as it comes which hopefuilly give me another 3-4 weeks without touching the drink.
 
I’m not sure if your case might be different from mine as I was convicted of drink driving. Maybe worth a call to the DVLA if nobody here has a solid answer for you?

Yes, it’s been a heinous 18 months and I very much hope I’ve passed the medical so I can put it all behind me. My husband has been so supportive and I’m grateful for my non judgemental friends helping me along the way. I’m quite confident I will not have a repeat of this!!

I can understand the need for a medical in some respects but sometimes I hate the fact that the DVLA play judge and jury once I’ve served my sentence. I did the alcohol awareness course which I found incredibly helpful and really quite informative. Well worth it for me!

Hoping to get results soon. They may want to contact my doctor as I had to answer truthfully a yes to the question about being in a road traffic accident whilst drunk (my fateful night and honestly an absolute one off, never done anything like that before). This may male the process longer.

Good luck to you too and keep me posted!
 
Miserable,
I assume I will have to go through the same process as you as the HRO scheme is the same as everyone else. Let me know how that goes with tick boxing the car crash question as I will have to do the same, although it wasn't this incident.

I think you will be fine though as it doesn't indicate that you have a problem with Drink, just a risk factor that they need to take into account, i maybe wrong though.

Insurance wise, i would recommend Adrian flux, they got me back on the road and assured they will help again when January comes as long as I get my licence back.

I am not really concerned that I won't get it back, but am a very anxious person.
 
Also an anxious person! The fact that the CDT testing has no real guidelines on how to pass has left me constantly anxious as to whether I’ve done enough to pass or not. I was given a choice of two dates when I rang up and had no choice but to take the one I did, hence only 19 days abstinence!

Thank you for the recommendation regarding insurance, this was going to be a question for the forums for me soon hopefully!

You should have no problems passing your CDT. I took one privately back in May for which I did not abstain and I got a result of 0.9%. It won’t be long until you are back on the road ?
 
Hi again :)
I contacted the DVLA who told me to apply for a D2 form as I have a bus entitlement as well, so that's coming in the post. As soon as I get it I will send off and get the ball rolling again I suppose, this is a strange situation as I've only been banned last week! I wish the court would have given me 10 points really as this is quite the set back!

No worries about the insurance, i found them very fair and helpful, don't know if they will be the same now that I will have two drink related convictions though :(

Do you have any news back from your results yet? Don't forget to let me know when you have some good news, have a wine on me Haha!
I think I'll be fine, i just want this to all be done and dusted now and be able to look forward to driving in Jan :D
 
Nothing yet. I called them a couple of days ago and they are yet to scan my paperwork from the Dr that performed the medical, I have been informed that this alone can take up to ten days then a decision will be made by the medical team. I want to pester them but not sure if it’ll make any difference!
 
I had my medical today, cost me £98.50
They test for carbohydrate deficient transferrin in the blood, the time frame is roughly 7-14 days, so abstain for 2 weeks prior and you’ll be fine. There’s always that panic at the back of your mind even if u know you haven’t drank anything.
 
Just a quick update.

After finally getting a letter to book an appointment (DVLA made a mistake) I will be booking a medical tomorrow.

The issue I have is that I have drunk probably 8 alcohol free largers (Becks blue) and half a cup of mulled wine last week. So I don't know if that will raise the cdt.

Will keep you updated when things progress.
 
Update on my case:
Had the letter today so booked an appointment for the 12th of December.
I also have to appear in front of the traffic commissioner as I hold a vocational licence (Bus) who I need to convince that I am fit to hold such licence, Not good!
Hopefully I get a second chance but only time will tell. The 14th of December will be my next update probably.
 
Well I have some news, hopefully this will help someone else in my rare case.

Medical:
This went well, didn't drink since the conviction and am comfortable in feeling that I will pass this, I am not a heavy user of alcohol and am pretty certain that this will go fine. The dr asks you to take your top and shoes off, he feels for any unusual lumps and bumps, checks breathing, blood pressure, height and weight. Asks you the questions on the form and takes the money, The blood sample he takes is then sent off to a lab working on behalf of the DVLA and gets analysed, This decision will now take a good 4-6 weeks until i hear anything back...

Traffic commissioner meeting:
This was quite daunting as I have never defended myself alone in court before but armed with a well written mitigation from myself I went in aware of the consequences of losing my PCV entitlement if the decision was of a non favourable outcome.
I went in expecting to read this out but he instead asked me questions regarding what brought me before him, I was open and honest about it all and he eventually came to an agreement to suspend my PCV driving for an extra 2 months to let me rehabilitate in my personal car before reinstating me with my bus entitlement again. I must stress that if ever you find yourself in this situation that you do your research on who the commissioner is to you and also write out a mitigation which is true and apologetic, you need to convince him/her that you are never going to put your self in this situation again and you will do what ever is necessary to make amends of the situation.

I wish you all the best and if you need any re assurance then don't hesitate to PM me.

Cheers.
 
Well I have some news, hopefully this will help someone else in my rare case.

Medical:
This went well, didn't drink since the conviction and am comfortable in feeling that I will pass this, I am not a heavy user of alcohol and am pretty certain that this will go fine. The dr asks you to take your top and shoes off, he feels for any unusual lumps and bumps, checks breathing, blood pressure, height and weight. Asks you the questions on the form and takes the money, The blood sample he takes is then sent off to a lab working on behalf of the DVLA and gets analysed, This decision will now take a good 4-6 weeks until i hear anything back...

Traffic commissioner meeting:
This was quite daunting as I have never defended myself alone in court before but armed with a well written mitigation from myself I went in aware of the consequences of losing my PCV entitlement if the decision was of a non favourable outcome.
I went in expecting to read this out but he instead asked me questions regarding what brought me before him, I was open and honest about it all and he eventually came to an agreement to suspend my PCV driving for an extra 2 months to let me rehabilitate in my personal car before reinstating me with my bus entitlement again. I must stress that if ever you find yourself in this situation that you do your research on who the commissioner is to you and also write out a mitigation which is true and apologetic, you need to convince him/her that you are never going to put your self in this situation again and you will do what ever is necessary to make amends of the situation.

I wish you all the best and if you need any re assurance then don't hesitate to PM me.

Cheers.

Interesting to read about your PCV bus driving entitlement restoration.
Recently I applied for a position as a trainee bus driver but was turned down due to my drink driving conviction.
 
Interesting to read about your PCV bus driving entitlement restoration.
Recently I applied for a position as a trainee bus driver but was turned down due to my drink driving conviction.

Hi milton.

Was this turned down from the company or dvla/traffic commissioner?

If this was the company then they may be breaching discrimination as you are entitled to be a bus driver even with a coniction and turning you down because of this is not a valid reason. It might be worth looking into legal actions if this is the case.
 
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top