DVLA medical despite no history of drink driving

Convicted Driver Insurance

Pomegranate

New Member
Hi all, I’ve never driven whilst under the influence so I hope it’s ok to post here. I have bipolar disorder and lost my licence in January after spending time in hospital in October-November (it took the DVLA two months to decide I should have it suspended for three months from January). My psychiatric care team and GP have each sent medical reports and questionnaires twice confirming I should be able to drive. The DVLA then mistakingly (they confirmed this was a mistake after I complained) wrote to another consultant I see for a non notifiable condition who informed them I had been drinking 1.5 bottles of wine a night, every night, which is incorrect. I probably drink that twice a week with a glass of wine a couple of other nights. Because of this I’ve now been summoned for a DVLA medical to check for alcohol misuse! I’m quite desperate to get my licence back as I’m a trainee nurse and have been cleared by occupational health and that’s had to be put on hold since I don’t have a driving licence.

I’ve so far had no alcohol for five days and don’t have a date for medical yet. I’m planning to abstain until the medical (despite it being my 30th birthday in less than two weeks :-(). I’m guessing I’ll be about four weeks ‘sober’ by then. Should I pass the cdt test with this?

Many thanks and apologies for the essay!
 
Hi all, I’ve never driven whilst under the influence so I hope it’s ok to post here. I have bipolar disorder and lost my licence in January after spending time in hospital in October-November (it took the DVLA two months to decide I should have it suspended for three months from January). My psychiatric care team and GP have each sent medical reports and questionnaires twice confirming I should be able to drive. The DVLA then mistakingly (they confirmed this was a mistake after I complained) wrote to another consultant I see for a non notifiable condition who informed them I had been drinking 1.5 bottles of wine a night, every night, which is incorrect. I probably drink that twice a week with a glass of wine a couple of other nights. Because of this I’ve now been summoned for a DVLA medical to check for alcohol misuse! I’m quite desperate to get my licence back as I’m a trainee nurse and have been cleared by occupational health and that’s had to be put on hold since I don’t have a driving licence.

I’ve so far had no alcohol for five days and don’t have a date for medical yet. I’m planning to abstain until the medical (despite it being my 30th birthday in less than two weeks :-(). I’m guessing I’ll be about four weeks ‘sober’ by then. Should I pass the cdt test with this?

Many thanks and apologies for the essay!

A good post further back called CDT individual case study^ reading this will realise there is no exact timeframes for lowering CDT fast# however you have done the correct thing by quitting alcohol entirely until your medical which will allow proof to the DVLA your neither dependant or suffer missuse problems" after receiving your letter it allows you another 30 days to book your appointment @ DVLA approved medical centre, from info you have given will be roughly 2 months clear of alcohol^ it would at this point be a mistake to try and have any amount of alcohol ie birthday! If your bio markers were already high you will cause another spike! so tread carefully there.
You can pay for a private CDT test linked via this website if you still have concerns but from the information 2btls a week previous history am sure you will be fine#
 
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Hi all, I’ve never driven whilst under the influence so I hope it’s ok to post here. I have bipolar disorder and lost my licence in January after spending time in hospital in October-November (it took the DVLA two months to decide I should have it suspended for three months from January). My psychiatric care team and GP have each sent medical reports and questionnaires twice confirming I should be able to drive. The DVLA then mistakingly (they confirmed this was a mistake after I complained) wrote to another consultant I see for a non notifiable condition who informed them I had been drinking 1.5 bottles of wine a night, every night, which is incorrect. I probably drink that twice a week with a glass of wine a couple of other nights. Because of this I’ve now been summoned for a DVLA medical to check for alcohol misuse! I’m quite desperate to get my licence back as I’m a trainee nurse and have been cleared by occupational health and that’s had to be put on hold since I don’t have a driving licence.

I’ve so far had no alcohol for five days and don’t have a date for medical yet. I’m planning to abstain until the medical (despite it being my 30th birthday in less than two weeks :-(). I’m guessing I’ll be about four weeks ‘sober’ by then. Should I pass the cdt test with this?

Many thanks and apologies for the essay!

Craig121 has given good advice.

i think that the DVLA concern will not be just the Bipolar or the alcohol, but the combination of the two. Bipolar causes a difficulty in regulating emotions, as you know, with extreme highs and then lows. Alcohol tends to make this more likely. I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I feel that if you have bipolar you should avoid alcohol altogether. You can read about it in the link below from Psychology weekly, and note the last sentence:

[FONT=&quot]“It's pretty simple. If you want to live well with bipolar disorder, then drugs and alcohol don't factor into the equation.”[/FONT]

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/...ol-drugs-and-bipolar-disorder-bad-combination
 
Thank you both for taking the time to reply and your helpful advice.

I know alcohol isn’t great with bipolar and I should really cut down. Hopefully this stint before the medical will be the beginning of that :). Medical is booked for 25th July. The letter said I had to ATTEND within six weeks of the date on the letter. I don’t plan on drinking before then.
 
Thank you both for taking the time to reply and your helpful advice.

I know alcohol isn’t great with bipolar and I should really cut down. Hopefully this stint before the medical will be the beginning of that :). Medical is booked for 25th July. The letter said I had to ATTEND within six weeks of the date on the letter. I don’t plan on drinking before then.

Am sure everything will checkout fine on the day of the medical# you may have to wait a few weeks for the results but also be careful another poster got called for a 2nd medical almost immediate due to either the DVLA medical lost or spoilt the sample!!
I would also encourage you to pop along to SR (Sober recovery) newcomers for support if you find things tougher without any alcohol!
I have been teetotal 16mths got both my licences back and my Job am overwhelmed but also grateful of just even reading the threads here and over @SR just to remind myself what a ***** I once was!!!
Best wishe*s
 
Thank you for the replies. I had the medical two weeks ago. I’m yet to hear back. I phoned DVLA for an update last Thursday and they told me they had my blood test results but had not received the medical report. Spoke to people who did the medical and they said they faxed it the same day. Spoke to DVLA today and they said it was ‘priority one’, whatever that means, with medics and although they hadn’t received the DVLA doctors report, they have had multiple reports from consultants etc and they are going to examine case without the report! I’m quite pissed off now! This has been ongoing for over eight months! The man today told me they have a ‘substantial backlog’ and can’t offer a time scale.
 
Today I phoned for an update and was told they’d issued me with a one year licence! So damn glad to have it back, but also a little pissed off that I’ll have to go through this again in a year!
 
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