Some help and advice please

Convicted Driver Insurance

Random-User

Member
I would like to ask some advice about my situation as there seem to be some very knowledgeable people on this forum.

In 2007 I was charged with drink driving (3 times over the limit) and leaving the scene of an accident (no one was injured and was just a scrape), I was sentenced to a suspended jail term and banned for 32 months, plus a lengthy time of community service, I took the option to take a course, which reduced the ban to 24 months. This situation I put down to relationship issues with my then wife, guess we all have our reasons/excuses.

Soon after my ban was complete, I left the UK to work abroad where I lived for 10 years and I took a driving test in my resident country where I was working, to gain my license. I have since returned to the UK to seek employment and I’m finding it very difficult applying for jobs not having a license (including the uncertainty of when or if I will ever get it back). This is without all of the other issues of being a returning expat brings, such as no recent proof of UK address, no recent medical history, no credit history etc.

Timeline

Early 2008 Banned for 32 months reduced to 24

Early Nov 21 – Started abstinence and will continue as this is saving me money and feel better in my health.

Late Nov 21 – I wanted to be sure my CDT levels would be OK before I applied for my license, so I went to one of the private clinics to get my CDT level checked. The result came back as follows:

"Your carbohydrate deficient transferase test could not be completed because your body is producing transferrin with an abnormal shape. This is usually due to inheriting a gene from one or both of your parents. In this situation we recommend using the PeTH test as an alternative means of assessing alcohol intake."

Dec 21 - Applied for UK license via the D1 form

I have not visited a Doctor in the UK since about 2011 and have not registered with one since my return.

I’m concerned about the DVLA medical and if the same CDT results come back and how will DVLA interpret the results and if they will ask for a PeTH test and any additional delay/problems this will cause. Also, when I was abroad, I asked DVLA for proof that I held a UK license so they may well have it on record that I have been out of the country, and another issue, I think I need to be able to prove UK residency for at least 6 months before applying for my license again.

Should I contact my old Doctors surgery?

Due to the length of time I have not held a UK license will they ask for my driving skills to be assessed?

I have read some horrendous stories of people trying to get their license back but have also been encouraged by some that have seemed to achieve this reasonably quickly.

Apologies for the lengthy post and any advice would be appreciated by someone who is trying to repair their life and move on from a 14-year-old mistake/disaster.
 
Did you ask for proof that you held a UK licence so you could exchange it for a foreign one? if so that could cause you problems. How long were you out of the country? Was it just a long visit or did you take up residency?
The reason that I ask is that because your conviction was before 1st June 2013 so in fact you are entitled to drive under S88 Road Traffic Act 1988 while your application is considered so long as your complete and correct application has been received by DVLA and your GP has no concerns about your driving again. BUT if you have exchanged your UK licence for a foreign one, you would have to apply to change it back again before you could go through the medical process.


You will not have to resit a driving test.
Your GP will be the last one that you were registered with….. your medical file will still be held by them.

The issue with the CDT test is also a problem. No good going for a PeTH test, DVLA will not recognise it.
When you have your medical with DVLA you just have to hope that the CDT result is actually a result, not a failure. The issue of CDT tests was discussed at a recent Medical Advisory Board meeting for DVLA and they came to the conclusion that they had no alternative tests to resort to. Therefore they will NOT ask you to submit to a PeTH test.
 
Hi Price,

Thanks for the advice and giving me a ray of hope.

I was out of the UK for about 10 years and was resident in 2 countries for approximately 5 years each. I asked the DVLA on 2 separate occasions for proof that I held a UK license with a view to getting it swapped for a local license in each country, which I was unable to do as they still required the original license which I gave up when disqualified. While abroad in 2018 I passed a full driving course which consisted of both theory and practical, so currently I hold a license from there.

Seems like good news that I could potentially be able to drive under S88 Road Traffic Act 1988 as I’m trying to get a job and that would really help.

It seems I need to have proof that the DVLA has received my complete application (I stupidly never filled in the optional email and phone contact details), so I guess I will need to wait to get a letter of confirmation in the post.

I have no medical record in this country for the last 10 years and not sure what the Doctor will say/recommend after I turn up at the surgery after such a long time especially considering I probably had a bad history back then as well.

When I tested privately, the CDT test could not be completed, what happens if I get the same result at the DVLA medical and there is no alternative to the CDT test as you suggest, where does that leave me with the DVLA in terms of completing my medical?

Thanks
 
If you now go to sign up with a different doctor, they will not fully accept you on to their books until you have had an ‘arrival’ checkup, and they have received your previous medical notes. They certainly would NOT fill in a DVLA questionnaire for a new patient they had no history on, so I think you have to stick with your original doctor.
DVLA would not have confirmed that you were a full UK licence holder to another country, because you were not! Your entitlement had been suspended, and when the ban was ended, it was not valid even then because you had not made an application for it to be restored.
If you drive under S88 before you are certain that the complete and correct application has been received, then you are taking a chance that there could have been an error on the amount you sent, you missed a signature or some other flaw that meant they DVLA returned the application for clarification. That decision is yours. One pointer could be that your cheque or postal order has been cashed…. As a high Risk Offender they would cash the cheque before writing out to you about the medical.

The CDT test will be something of a mystery…. I suggest that you take the result that you got (well a copy of it) with you to the medical and ask the doctor there to attach it to your questionnaire by way of an explanation to DVLA of what issues there may be with the result of their test. Then, to be honest, who knows what they will decide to do, there is no other test that they approve.I think it is certain they will write to your GP and delve deep into your medical history.
 
I have seen a few times before that people who have had a private CDT medical who have been told that they cannot get a result, are then checked by the DVLA labs and do get a result.

I'm not sure if the Medichecks and other private labs do something different, sometimes peoples private result and DVLA result differ by quite a bit. That may be why DVLA will not accept private tests, and they should therefore only be considered as a pointer to what your official DVLA result will reveal.
 
If you now go to sign up with a different doctor, they will not fully accept you on to their books until you have had an ‘arrival’ checkup, and they have received your previous medical notes. They certainly would NOT fill in a DVLA questionnaire for a new patient they had no history on, so I think you have to stick with your original doctor.
DVLA would not have confirmed that you were a full UK licence holder to another country, because you were not! Your entitlement had been suspended, and when the ban was ended, it was not valid even then because you had not made an application for it to be restored.
If you drive under S88 before you are certain that the complete and correct application has been received, then you are taking a chance that there could have been an error on the amount you sent, you missed a signature or some other flaw that meant they DVLA returned the application for clarification. That decision is yours. One pointer could be that your cheque or postal order has been cashed…. As a high Risk Offender they would cash the cheque before writing out to you about the medical.

The CDT test will be something of a mystery…. I suggest that you take the result that you got (well a copy of it) with you to the medical and ask the doctor there to attach it to your questionnaire by way of an explanation to DVLA of what issues there may be with the result of their test. Then, to be honest, who knows what they will decide to do, there is no other test that they approve.I think it is certain they will write to your GP and delve deep into your medical history.
Hi Price,
There is no way that I’m considering anything remotely risky like driving under S88 until I’m 100% convinced that there will not be any issues.

I take your point about keeping the same Doctor, however it does raise a question about my last 10 years of no medical history. I just wonder how much they will use the 10+ year old history against me. Coupled with the fact that my CDT result may not be ‘completed’ as the private medical company put it.
 
I have seen a few times before that people who have had a private CDT medical who have been told that they cannot get a result, are then checked by the DVLA labs and do get a result.

I'm not sure if the Medichecks and other private labs do something different, sometimes peoples private result and DVLA result differ by quite a bit. That may be why DVLA will not accept private tests, and they should therefore only be considered as a pointer to what your official DVLA result will reveal.
Hi BigTom,

I did the Medichecks CDT test just to see what level I could expect before taking the DVLA medical.

I read in another thread "medichecks" dated 13 Oct 21, that one poster had a similar problem with the test carried out at Medichecks and the response from Medichecks was as follows and I quote from that post:

“The DVLA use a different testing method to ours which is less sensitive to abnormal forms of transferrin. This is why we were unable to process the CDT test.”

I have now asked Medichecks to clarify my test results and when they do I shall keep you all informed.
 
Hi Price,
There is no way that I’m considering anything remotely risky like driving under S88 until I’m 100% convinced that there will not be any issues.

I take your point about keeping the same Doctor, however it does raise a question about my last 10 years of no medical history. I just wonder how much they will use the 10+ year old history against me. Coupled with the fact that my CDT result may not be ‘completed’ as the private medical company put it.
Just a quick update.
Price I know you said keep my old Doctor, but I contacted my previous surgery and they could not find me on the system and also could not register me as I now live outside their catchment area. So I have registered at a new surgery where I'm told it will take 2 weeks to get me on the system, then they will have to request my records from my old Doctor.
I'm wondering how long they retain patient records for and if it is worth asking for a copy of any records they hold?

I received a reply back from Medichecks:
"Some people carry the gene for an abnormal form of transferrin, and this prevents the CDT test from returning a result. The DVLA are sometimes able to get a result where we are unable to because they use a slightly different testing method. The PeTH test can give an indication of whether alcohol intake has been affecting their body, but is not directly comparable to the CDT test."

I wonder what the differences are between the CDT test that DVLA carry out and Medichecks as it seems the results may not be completely comparable, but I will have to wait and find out on that one.
 
I think that what has happened is that your old GP has returned your medical noted to a central repository for their Health authority.
It should not be difficult for them to to be dug out.
I didn’t realise you had returned to a different area so it is correct that you cannot continue with the old doctor. My bad for not asking about that.
Whilst the CDT analysis is carried out in a slightly different way by DVLA, I have seen nothing on here to indicate that the Medichecks results are not comparable for the actual score.
I do seem to remember someone on here about 3-4 years ago saying that they had the same report back from Medichecks but DVLA WERE able to get a result from their test.
 
I think that what has happened is that your old GP has returned your medical noted to a central repository for their Health authority.
It should not be difficult for them to to be dug out.
I didn’t realise you had returned to a different area so it is correct that you cannot continue with the old doctor. My bad for not asking about that.
Whilst the CDT analysis is carried out in a slightly different way by DVLA, I have seen nothing on here to indicate that the Medichecks results are not comparable for the actual score.
I do seem to remember someone on here about 3-4 years ago saying that they had the same report back from Medichecks but DVLA WERE able to get a result from their test.
Just a quick update and Price - No issues about not asking about if I was in a different area, I never realized the significance and that my registration with my existing GP surgery had ceased.
I had a text from my new surgery about a COVID booster so I called them to check if I was registered and sure enough I now have a new Dr. I have arranged the first appointment available for 11 Jan, which will be a telephone call, so guess if I pass that then I will get invited in for maybe tests or just a face to face to assess my fitness to drive. I'm not really sure what to expect as I have no medical history in the UK for the last 10 years. I can kind of see how this is playing out after reading many posts on this site.
No news from DVLA since posting my application on 4 Dec 21.
 
Just a quick update and Price - No issues about not asking about if I was in a different area, I never realized the significance and that my registration with my existing GP surgery had ceased.
I had a text from my new surgery about a COVID booster so I called them to check if I was registered and sure enough I now have a new Dr. I have arranged the first appointment available for 11 Jan, which will be a telephone call, so guess if I pass that then I will get invited in for maybe tests or just a face to face to assess my fitness to drive. I'm not really sure what to expect as I have no medical history in the UK for the last 10 years. I can kind of see how this is playing out after reading many posts on this site.
No news from DVLA since posting my application on 4 Dec 21.
10 Jan 22 - Sent an on-line query to post office to check if the postal order had been cashed by DVLA, I received an automated response that said they aim to respond in 5 working days. Awaiting confirmation.

Followed up with DVLA and received a reply saying - 'Paper applications are likely to take between 6-10 weeks to process, but there may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions.' With a note saying they can't confirm receipt of applications.

11 Jan 22 - Had a 5 minute telephone conversation with my new GP who agreed to write me a - To whom it may concern letter confirming that I was 'fit to drive'. Amazed this part of the process went so easy and he never asked to see me at the surgery for an examination. Not that I have anything to fear.

14 Jan 22 - Picked up 'fit to drive' letter from GP surgery. The letter says that the Doctor supports my application to have my license reinstated.
My question is - Will this letter be sufficient and will I need to send a copy to DVLA. From what I understand I will still need to get DVLA acknowledge my application and agree that it is satisfactory before I can drive under Section 88.

My ability to drive legally is even more critical to me now as after a year and a half of being out of work I start a new job on Monday and although I was not asked if I could drive or if I had a license at interview stage, I found out later that driving is part of the job role driving company provided cars around the site, due to the enormity of the area.
 
Having the letter from your GP satisfies that part of S88, just keep it with you, you do not have to send this to DVLA.
BUT
Re the part about them having received your complete and correct application…….. it is not just a matter of checking that they have cashed to postal order, someone on here who I have been helping via private messaging has just told me that after a 3 month wait to get their licence back, and driving for a while apparently under S88, has had his licence application returned because the eyesight part of the application has not been filled in properly. Therefore he has been driving for several weeks without a driving licence as S88 did not apply….. the application was not ‘complete and correct.’ !!
He just has to hope now in the next 2 weeks he does not get a ticket in the post for speeding or similar where he will then have questions to answer………
 
Having the letter from your GP satisfies that part of S88, just keep it with you, you do not have to send this to DVLA.
BUT
Re the part about them having received your complete and correct application…….. it is not just a matter of checking that they have cashed to postal order, someone on here who I have been helping via private messaging has just told me that after a 3 month wait to get their licence back, and driving for a while apparently under S88, has had his licence application returned because the eyesight part of the application has not been filled in properly. Therefore he has been driving for several weeks without a driving licence as S88 did not apply….. the application was not ‘complete and correct.’ !!
He just has to hope now in the next 2 weeks he does not get a ticket in the post for speeding or similar where he will then have questions to answer………
Thanks for giving this example from real life experience.
This just reinforces the importance of not assuming everything is fine with your application and contacting DVLA for written or at least verbal confirmation. They used to send out written confirmation and I believed this was a direct result of the amount of people driving under S88.
There has been many posts on here from people assuming their application is correct and driving without written or even verbal confirmation. Many people have also assumed that also as their cheque or postal order has been cashed.
You cannot assume anything, I would not even assume it after paying for it to be checked by the post office worker.
Do not assume and believe that everything is fine.
 
Thanks for giving this example from real life experience.
This just reinforces the importance of not assuming everything is fine with your application and contacting DVLA for written or at least verbal confirmation. They used to send out written confirmation and I believed this was a direct result of the amount of people driving under S88.
There has been many posts on here from people assuming their application is correct and driving without written or even verbal confirmation. Many people have also assumed that also as their cheque or postal order has been cashed.
You cannot assume anything, I would not even assume it after paying for it to be checked by the post office worker.
Do not assume and believe that everything is fine.
Especially when dealing with the DVLA, Nothing is fine!
 
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top