How to make a complaint about the DVLA medical assessment process

Advice please

Convicted Driver Insurance

digikaos

New Member
Hello everyone, hope your all safe.
Advice please.

Banned August 2014 for 18 months , HRO due to not providing a sample.

November 2016 attended CDT medical.
(Was at this time regular pub drinker 5-6 pints a day, most days. 5% beer, lager no spirits.)

CDT result was 14.1% - Seems very high.

Not ever had any drink related problems no doctors, hospitals, criminal charges nothing.

I researched and found that at 3% your considered very high, perhaps even borderline seriously ill.

3.5 years later (I went travelling and though f*ck the DVLA) im wanting to try again but to be honest Im not convinced the 14.1 reading could be correct so i dont have much motivation to try again to be honest.

If i go again and its a stupid reading ill just be forced to wait another year. I do still drink but nothing like I used to.

It all seems a bit unfair considering it was my first time, first offence and no-one even knows if I had a drink / can prove it anyway because there are no readings available, and then a 14.1 CDT test

Ive got no health problems, mid forties, CDT test was 3.5 years ago, surely if anything was wrong (as the CDT test indicated) i would have been ill / had problems with my liver or similar?


What do you think ? Be honest.
 
So I will ask you to be honest, how much are you drinking per day / week at the moment and what is the strength of it? (ABv)
You have indicated that you were drinking in the order of 100-135 units per week before your last test, so a 14.1 result was not surprising to me. The current guidelines are 14 per week, which some view as being too low, but even under the old guidelines, above 50 units per week was seemed to be “significant risk”.
 
6 cans 5% on Saturday night. None since might grab 4 cans tomorrow night.
That kind of pattern currently.
 
The 14 units are supposed to be spread over the week... Saturday night was already 15 units and you are considering ano5er 10 units to,orrow.
If you are serious about getting your licence back you will have to have a dramatic rethink of your drinking habits... I am not judging you, weall have free choice in what we do, and what we drink, but you are thinking about going into battle with DVLA to get your licence back as a High Risk Offender who has already been turned down with a very high CDT result.
your only path to push forward with this is abstaining and getting some liver function checks recorded with your GP before you reapply.
 
This is another factor. I have had 4 blood tests in the last 18 months because I had a suspected blood clot in my calf and i asked at each one if my lft looked abnormal. If i remember i think on the very first one when my DVT was slightly high one of the marks were a few points above but only 2 or 3 since then all within the 'ranges' according to the gp.

So, 14.1 CDT is possible ? A few pints everyday in the pub could cause a reading of 14.1?
Does CDT therefore go up to a possible 100% like for hard spirit drinkers ?
Out of the hundreds of people i know that drink 5 or 6 pints is a evening out not a night out. They all drive, half of them for a living.
 
Hi mate. I had 6 cans of kronenbourg saturday and not drank since. I wont until tomorrow perhaps even wednesday.
That qualify for drink problem does it?
I think not.
 
digikaos said:
This is another factor. I have had 4 blood tests in the last 18 months because I had a suspected blood clot in my calf and i asked at each one if my lft looked abnormal. If i remember i think on the very first one when my DVT was slightly high one of the marks were a few points above but only 2 or 3 since then all within the 'ranges' according to the gp.

So, 14.1 CDT is possible ? A few pints everyday in the pub could cause a reading of 14.1?
Does CDT therefore go up to a possible 100% like for hard spirit drinkers ?
Out of the hundreds of people i know that drink 5 or 6 pints is a evening out not a night out. They all drive, half of them for a living.
Click to expand...

5 or 6 pints in a night would not elevate your CDT, but that amount EVERY night certainly would. All the publicity about drinking says you should give your liver a couple of days rest a week so it has a chance to recover from the harm that alcohol causes it.
CDT can go higher than 14.1 but certainly not 100 - it isn’t a percentage scale. You do not have to drink spirits to elevate the CDT reading and start liver damage, it is any alcohol and the more units you drink, the more at risk you become.
A score of 12 or more is usually associated with alcoholics, that is why you can expect DVLA to take a close interest in you when you reapply.
You say you had blood tests for DVT, I would expect that to be a test for something called D-Dimer, which is something that affects the blood and how it coagulates. I would NOT expect the sample to be tested for Liver Function. A Liver Function test can show the condition of your liver, but not necessarily the cause. That is why, for several years, DVLA have used the CDT test which is specific for alcohol damage.
 
digikaos said:
Hi mate. I had 6 cans of kronenbourg saturday and not drank since. I wont until tomorrow perhaps even wednesday.
That qualify for drink problem does it?
I think not.
Click to expand...
You ask in your original post for honest responses. I think you need to take the same approach.
Aside from your drinking history, your current admissions indicate frequent and (relatively) high alcohol consumption compared to the government recommendations.

Fundamentaly you need to ask yourself if you need your licence but want a drink, or want your licence but need a drink. If it's the second option then you need to think seriously on how you approach your relationship with alcohol.

Sorry if it's not the answer you want to hear.
 
digikaos said:
Hi mate. I had 6 cans of kronenbourg saturday and not drank since. I wont until tomorrow perhaps even wednesday.
That qualify for drink problem does it?
I think not.
Click to expand...

Not having a drink for 3 days isn't really much of a brag is it? You can be an alcoholic and only drink 1 day a week, daily drinkers are not the only alcoholics. Alcoholism is about your relationship with alcohol, in all my years in AA I've never heard of a CDT score as high as 14.1 and nearly everyone there loses their licences.

I would expect the DVLA to fully investigated you when you re-apply after a score like that. Your score was nearly 5 times worse than the normal failing score of 3.0. You need to decide whether you want a driving licence or to continue drinking the way you do, you can't have both.
 
Hi if this isn't a wind up thread then I would recommend you seek help for your alcoholism, and good luck
 
I assure you guys this isnt a wind up thread. Im currently 2 weeks completely no drinking.

Im going to apply again as things reopen

I honestly shit you not my cdt reading was 14.1% after several (3-5) years od drinking lager most days as i said in my first post

It is very interesting the guy said he had never heard of such a high reading...

I have learnt from the first few comments of this thread that 4 cans a night is probably excessive and i have took action ie no drink at all.
Its just that 14.1 always seemed a bit excessive.

Will report back in a few weeks
 
Good luck, and remember that they ask you about your medical history and probably check with your GP.
The questions to you and your GP relate to your last 6 year history with drinking.
 
Alcohol issues are defined by costing you more than the price of the drink itself, sound to me like its already cost you your license and will you will lose it again with CDT readings like that. Drinking heavily then taking a break before the medical to lower the CDT doesnt always work, everyone is different and everyone will have different readings for the same amount of alcohol consumed. You know what the limits are and why we are all on this forum, the people you know who drink too much and have driving jobs are just waiting to join the Drink driving club....the one no one wants to join. Just need to make a decision about how much you want your license back, not drinking at all is easier for most than drinking the recommended units per week spread over the week and it certainly will not hurt.
 
Hello. I am HRO awaiting my medical hopefully in the next few weeks. Had no alcohol at all for the past 3 weeks. (Almost 4) All going well but now I am on Codeine as I had a severe back injury last weekend and hospital prescribed these drugs for the pain. I am worried it might cause my CDT levels to rise. Is that likely?
 
I am also going to seek legal advice based on what the op earlier said, in all his time in AA even some of the guys there dont have such a high reading. No way on this earth can a few cans a day cause a reading so high. 14.1 is unheard of as far as ive been told even by my doctor.



Will report back
 
Codeine is not going to affect your CDT reading.
I would suggest that here is not much point in paying to challenge an old CDT reading that you think was too high. TO challenge it you would have to show it was incorrect.. how could you do that now? And you would end to supply a CDT result now to go with the challenge, but if you go through the DVLA medical you have to do that anyway so it would get you nowhere.
 
Thank you Price 1367 for the advice. Greatly appreciated. I will enjoy staying pain free!
 
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