How to make a complaint about the DVLA medical assessment process

Cdt returns to normal after 2-4 wks (abstinence)

Convicted Driver Insurance
well I've been following all these threads for a while... I had my licence revoked due to being dependant on alcohol. (no tests offered from dvla) I wasn't I just drank too much at the weekends and never drank on a Sunday as I was a HGV driver.. lost my home my job everything an became homeless........long story short... I've been unemployed for 5 months now an DVLA wrote to me an said if you have medical evidence to prove your not then we can keep it out of court (I was gonna go for appeal) well if had a bit to drink an I'll be truthful... Monday an Tuesday a litre of vodka. Wednesday a 70cl vodka and a few cans.... I took a cdt test 2 weeks later an got a result of 1.1%
 
Hello. I am due to go for the CDT test in the near future.(No appointment yet, but I am hopeful it wont be too long) There are lots of views on how long to have been abstinent prior to a CDT test. I was a heavy drinker, but have really changed my habits now and had several stretches of abstinence sine January (often 20 days or so) and then I am now 36 days abstinent most recently.
 
Hi, I'm wondering how long I need to abstain from drinking prior to my CDT test. My psychiatrist has stated that I have a history of alcohol dependency syndrome (long story) and I applied for my licence renewal back in January but as yet haven't heard when I have to go for the CDT test. I've hardly drank this year but I was on holiday back in late May/early June and drank every other day for almost a week (mostly half a bottle of wine). I last drank on 3 June, 1.5 bottles of Prosecco (not sure of the strength but generally it's lower than red wine) and was wondering how long I'll need to wait until my CDT levels reduce and what they need to reduce to? I got my CDT taken last year and I was 1.0 after 3 weeks abstinence but I believe that my levels need to be under this? I would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks.
 
If your medical notes show alcohol dependency then irrespective of your initial CDT score, DVLA will look for evidence of being alcohol free for a period of 12 months, with evidence to support this.
EDIT: I see looking back at your postings that you were advised in June last year about this, and said that you had “recorded my last drink as 20th March 2020”
What have you done to evidence your ‘non drinking’….. seeing as you now admit that you have been drinking up to 3rd June, even though you had applied for your licence back in January and knew that a medical was going to be due?
 
price1367 said:
If your medical notes show alcohol dependency then irrespective of your initial CDT score, DVLA will look for evidence of being alcohol free for a period of 12 months, with evidence to support this.
EDIT: I see looking back at your postings that you were advised in June last year about this, and said that you had “recorded my last drink as 20th March 2020”
What have you done to evidence your ‘non drinking’….. seeing as you now admit that you have been drinking up to 3rd June, even though you had applied for your licence back in January and knew that a medical was going to be due?
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I have had 4 LFT tests over the last year, my GGT came back as 12/14
 
Bluebottle said:
I have had 4 LFT tests over the last year, my GGT came back as 12/14
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Those are good scores, but DVLA will still look for a CDT score of under 1% so I would say you should stay off the booze until your medical to be safe, the lower the score the better. Did you discuss alcohol consumption with your GP at all? If so, what did you say about it?
 
price1367 said:
Those are good scores, but DVLA will still look for a CDT score of under 1% so I would say you should stay off the booze until your medical to be safe, the lower the score the better. Did you discuss alcohol consumption with your GP at all? If so, what did you say about it?
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Thanks for the info price. I've told my GP my last drink was 20 march 2020. It was my new psychiatrist that changed my diagnosis from alcohol misuse, which I informed DVLA of, to dependence. I have no plans to drink until I get my licence renewed, I just wondered when my levels are likely to fall below 1.
 
My experience of the DVLA Medical CDT Test:-

Returning the favour for all the info this forum has given me :)

I was a long-term heavy drinker during my ban, several bottles of wine per week, so my CDT levels would definitely have been significantly raised I reckon!
Decided to quit drinking altogether a few weeks before I knew I was likely to be invited to re-apply for my license by DVLA.
I'm middle aged, pretty fit and eat fairly healthily.
It ended up being just over 10 weeks of complete abstinence by the time my medical appointment came around.
Got my results back from DVLA about 10 days later and passed with 0.7% CDT!
No way of knowing whether 0.7 is my base level or how high it was to start with, so I may have been already at that level in under 10 weeks, but from all the hours of research I've done I'm very glad I did quit as early as I did!
Most useful info I found on it is that it halves about every 2 weeks. So if you're worst case scenario 10% to start with, then 5 x fortnights of halving that gets you down to well below 1.0% and a safe pass.
Much less than 10 weeks and I think you'd be taking a bit of a risk!
Hope this helps people!
Thanks
 
DetectiveVentriloquist said:
My experience of the DVLA Medical CDT Test:-

Returning the favour for all the info this forum has given me :)

I was a long-term heavy drinker during my ban, several bottles of wine per week, so my CDT levels would definitely have been significantly raised I reckon!
Decided to quit drinking altogether a few weeks before I knew I was likely to be invited to re-apply for my license by DVLA.
I'm middle aged, pretty fit and eat fairly healthily.
It ended up being just over 10 weeks of complete abstinence by the time my medical appointment came around.
Got my results back from DVLA about 10 days later and passed with 0.7% CDT!
No way of knowing whether 0.7 is my base level or how high it was to start with, so I may have been already at that level in under 10 weeks, but from all the hours of research I've done I'm very glad I did quit as early as I did!
Most useful info I found on it is that it halves about every 2 weeks. So if you're worst case scenario 10% to start with, then 5 x fortnights of halving that gets you down to well below 1.0% and a safe pass.
Much less than 10 weeks and I think you'd be taking a bit of a risk!
Hope this helps people!
Thanks
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This is really encouraging to read. I have my own DVLA medical coming up sometime early next year (date to be confirmed when I get my letter). This will be my third medical since the conclusion of my drink driving ban. Despite Christmas just days away, I’m actually staying away from alcohol just for my own piece of mind.

CJ
 
Mclanelli said:
Good for you.

Interesting that you abstained for 12 weeks not 4.

Good luck.

M
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It depends on his/her level of drinking. If they have been boozing for weeks/years nearly everyday - 4 weeks sobriety will not be enough to get a CDT score under 1.0%. 12 weeks is a good comfortable time of period of sobriety to guarantee the score is a low one.

CJ
 
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