Thechief5
Member
I have today received conformation that my license is to be returned, but wanted to post my story on here as support for others going through the ordeal of being banned and trying to get their license back after dq.
I was banned for 40 months in May 2014, for a second offence in 10 years, and a reading of over 120.
In April 2018 (7 months after the ban finished) I applied for my licence to be returned. To cut a long story short I was in a new job, and had been sober for 6 months, and thought it was a mere formality. My cdt reading was 0.7%. However, I was refused a licence because I had been to see my GP the previous year with depression and was signed off work. I told him the amounts I was drinking, and it was all linked to my depression. I guess at the peak I was drinking 8-10 pints a day. He declared this on his questionnaire that he was sent, and I was told by the DVLA that I had to go 12 months sober before I could get my license back. They classed me as alcohol dependant. Although would never give me a definition whenever I asked. This all came off the back of 6 months complete sobriety, a new job, a new home etc...... so I certainly would think twice about speaking too much to a GP if you are suffering from mental illness and use alcohol to cope. In my experience they offered very little help, it just made things worse.
In Sept 18 I applied again, as this was 1 year of sobriety, or would be when the medical came round. However, owing to various mistakes, delays and incompetence, I was eventually sent for medical in March 2019! I had been drinking again, socially, at Christmas, and before my last medical I only had 23 days of sobriety. So to anyone thinking they may fail the medical due to drinking recently, and reading you need 3 months sobriety, I have passed on 23 days. I certainly wouldn't advocate that, and it's not as if I was drinking daily, but had 3-4 days of drinking on a holiday prior to the 23 days, so I was certainly concerned.
As I say, license returned today. Its only for 1 year, but that is what I was expecting. I can now get a promotion, and company vehicle. It feels really good, and has been such a long journey. My experience is that there are many delays, DVLA and GP delaying the process with their long timescales, and I would say the process of getting your license back is as bad and stressful as the ban itself!
I will talk more about the medical and cdt testing another time. But hope my information, timescales and overall experiences can help some people on here.
I was banned for 40 months in May 2014, for a second offence in 10 years, and a reading of over 120.
In April 2018 (7 months after the ban finished) I applied for my licence to be returned. To cut a long story short I was in a new job, and had been sober for 6 months, and thought it was a mere formality. My cdt reading was 0.7%. However, I was refused a licence because I had been to see my GP the previous year with depression and was signed off work. I told him the amounts I was drinking, and it was all linked to my depression. I guess at the peak I was drinking 8-10 pints a day. He declared this on his questionnaire that he was sent, and I was told by the DVLA that I had to go 12 months sober before I could get my license back. They classed me as alcohol dependant. Although would never give me a definition whenever I asked. This all came off the back of 6 months complete sobriety, a new job, a new home etc...... so I certainly would think twice about speaking too much to a GP if you are suffering from mental illness and use alcohol to cope. In my experience they offered very little help, it just made things worse.
In Sept 18 I applied again, as this was 1 year of sobriety, or would be when the medical came round. However, owing to various mistakes, delays and incompetence, I was eventually sent for medical in March 2019! I had been drinking again, socially, at Christmas, and before my last medical I only had 23 days of sobriety. So to anyone thinking they may fail the medical due to drinking recently, and reading you need 3 months sobriety, I have passed on 23 days. I certainly wouldn't advocate that, and it's not as if I was drinking daily, but had 3-4 days of drinking on a holiday prior to the 23 days, so I was certainly concerned.
As I say, license returned today. Its only for 1 year, but that is what I was expecting. I can now get a promotion, and company vehicle. It feels really good, and has been such a long journey. My experience is that there are many delays, DVLA and GP delaying the process with their long timescales, and I would say the process of getting your license back is as bad and stressful as the ban itself!
I will talk more about the medical and cdt testing another time. But hope my information, timescales and overall experiences can help some people on here.
