How to make a complaint about the DVLA medical assessment process

A surprise for christmas from the DVLA

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If on your medical record it says you were dependent on alcohol then the DVLA will ask for twelve months of abstinence.

However, your GP as a professional has this requirement in a manual so they should be confirming or denying that with the DVLA as appropriate. If they are unsure they should contact you.

If they fill out an ambiguous response then the DVLA will try to fill the gaps, successfully or otherwise.

I'm annoyed on your behalf because how to communicate clearly all relevant information is pretty much day one of medical or nursing school. Hindsight is a great thing but I would book an appointment to get the facts formally recorded to start with.
 
TipsyNurse said:
However, your GP as a professional has this requirement in a manual so they should be confirming or denying that with the DVLA as appropriate. If they are unsure they should contact you.
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sorry what do you mean by this - that my GP should have told me to abstain for 12 months ? he didnt know I was banned !
 
I understand where the 12 months abstinence comes from the point is nobody told me about it - if it required why dont the DVLA inform you of this requirement, are we supposed to be mind readers. as it stands I have now been banned for a total 16 months 14 months ban plus 2 more while all this bollocks has been going on, I have been controlling my drinking during that time, I took the DVLA HRO medical, passed the DVLA CDT test and now Im going to have another 12 month added to that because nobody bothered telling me - ****ing great

I have paid for the drink-drive rehabilitation course and the HRO medical when in reality I had no chance of ever getting my license back, not to mention the 10 years ncb that will now expire and the massive insure costs that will go with that, possibly lose my job now as work will want to know why I havent got my license back and think I vwe been lying to them - oh yea Ive been drink dependant all this time and didnt know
 
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rufus said:
I give up - bye
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Don’t give up mate. I need to work all this out too. I simply can’t see how if you pass the CDT test, that you still can’t get your license back. I think I am in the same situation. I will have 16 months of abstinence when I take my test. But absolutely no way of proving this, as no-one ever tested me in the first place. If they say you need to do an additional year, when their own tests show you were abstinent anyway... by what measure will they test you in a years time? There has got to be some misunderstanding here. I’ve looked at the questionnaire and there are two questions I can’t answer no to. “Has a Dr ever told you to reduce drinking” Well, yes. Because every Dr ever tells you to reduce if you are drinking more than 1.5 bottles a *week* The big one I’m not sure about is... have you ever misused alcohol in the last 3 years. Can anyone *at all* ever claim they haven’t misused alcohol if they are banned for drink driving. We are banned from driving, So, surely, everyone who is banned from driving has misused alcohol ??.?
 
I think it all depends what they can prove via the GP info - if it isnt on your record, say no! if it is , go to your GP and tell them you have a HRO medical coming up and you would like them to write a note on your record stating you have been abstinent for the 16 months but make sure its on your record and make sure the GP puts that on the form they get from the DVLA if they apply for further info
 
Sorry, to clarify, the DVLA issue a manual to healthcare professionals, available online, detailing what the requirements are for different health conditions.

In my opinion your doctor should be reading this when filling out the questionnaire and, if they are unsure about time periods, contact you before sending it off. They shouldn't just fill out the bits they know because of course the DVLA will not contact you to clarify what your doctor has said.

Hopefully they will sort it for you. I know you are up for court and I know dealing with the DVLA is about as much fun as being kicked in the teeth. But it will be much cheaper and quicker if you can convince them to change their decision voluntarily.
 
If my GP thought in his opinion that I was dependant should they have informed the DVLA in the first place?

I would love this to be settled by the DVLA without taking court action and a lot cheaper to boot but how often has the DVLA ever reversed one of their decisions
 
Doctors are obliged to tell the DVLA if they have told a patient not to drive and the person continues to drive.

However, in practice many don't because the DVLA are just as unhelpful to doctors and nurses as they are to drivers. As a healthcare professional you are used to people giving your opinion some weight. However, if you contact them they always make out that somehow they know better than you.

I remember once calling in about some old boy who was driving despite barely being able to see where he was going at 2mph with a frame. I had this long and pointless conversation with them asking all these irrelevant questions. I honestly felt like screaming "I'm a bloody nurse! I assess patients as my day job. I can tell you his eyesight is not near sufficient to drive with! I don't need someone sitting in a call centre to waste my time".

As for DVLA informal complaints, I don't know the statistics unfortunately. I would just get a manager from the start and push. The worst they can say is go to court.
 
If they have been clearly unreasonable you have a stronger case to ask for a wasted costs order in court as well to cover some/all of your costs if you have tried to resolve the matter out of court.
 
I have just opened a letter from the DVLA and its my subject to access request of the evidence that they have regarding revoking my license

It transpires that its my GP supplied info that was used on a DR2 form where they have indicated

I have had persistent alcohol misuse in the last 3 years,
that it has been controlled but only for 2 months controlled drinking which is utter bollocks - the 2 months is when I went to my GP to get a LFT done to help prove that I had been controlling my drinking for some time.

He has also put that I have required help or treatment (no time line given by DVLA) - I have never required help/treatment, I choose to seek help of my own volition in 2016 and Informed my GP of this (wish I didnt bother )

Also asks about being advised to reduce drinking - to which he has put a number of occasions - which they automatically do if your even slightly above the gov guidelines - last instance was 2017

I will now have to discuss this with my GP but he have now gone on holiday for 2 weeks
 
to be fair to the DVLA, they have just acted on the GP supplied medical info - I can only criticise them for not having a process in place to get medical info from a HRO at that start of their ban and informing them that they need to be abstinent for 12 months rather than waiting to get that info after their ban has been completed and adding another 12 months onto their sentence.

PS also got a separate cheque for £90 with no covering letter - whats that all about ?
 
That sounds rubbish :(

On the plus side your job is slightly easier in that it appears the DVLA have made the correct decision with the wrong information. If you can give them but corrected information it will be easier to change the decision.

Remember it is crucial for your GP to either put misuse and six months controlled drinking, or dependence and twelve months abstinence to make the DVLAs decision easier. Controlled drinking is not enough if they say dependence.
 
£90 is what they pay the GP to do the form. Perhaps they thought they did such a bad job you deserved it instead :ROFLMAO:

You might want to keep it though, I suspect at some stage your GPs secretary will realise they haven't been paid.
 
assumed the cheque may have been for the HRO medical as they have now revoked my licence
 
I was being slightly tongue in cheek :censored:

The £90 will be the refund of your licence application fee that you paid the DVLA. You don't get a refund on the medical assessment itself.
 
since they have revoked my licence will they now pay for any future cdt tests/medicals :unsure:
 
rufus said:
since they have revoked my licence will they now pay for any future cdt tests/medicals :unsure:
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They should do. I had my license refused and I appealed. Luckily I was successful AND they paid for my medical. It took over 6 months to get my license back from their initial refusal but I got there. Don't give up hope. I've been where you are now and have felt everything you're feeling, you can get there too
 
You have to pay for a medical after disqualification but medicals are free after a revocation.
 
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