Driving licence issues

[Leeds85]

During my partners time in neuro rehab they wrote to the dvla regarding his brain injury. I have reapplied for it, we are now into week 10 of no correspondence. I have rang several times and told it's with the medical team and yesterday they said it's with the medical team supervisor. Has anyone else had issues waiting for their licence to come back. Thank you

[godstrong20]

Hi I had a Ruptured Brain Aneurysm , 3 months ago, they also told me no driving, so how do I know if DMV knows about it.

[randomphantoms in reply to godstrong20]

Hi godstrong

I think you may be in America and if that is the case it might be best for you to contact the biausa.org for advice.

[godstrong20 in reply to randomphantoms]

Thank you kindly

[eileenleach in reply to godstrong20]

They don’t know unless hospital informs them, I was adviced not to drive but didn’t get my licence rash iff me but i had a seizure n Darnt drive again until I’d had ops n was told to inform. Dvla then n they wanted all info n medical proof from surgeon to say I was fit to drive z

[godstrong20 in reply to eileenleach]

Thank you kindly

[Victoria_wilson]

Hi, It’s the most frustrating process. I suffered a TBI in Jan 18, advised to refrain from driving and inform DVLA. Licence was revoked in April and I was advised to apply 8 weeks before the 6 month period. I did this (May 18) and finally got my licence back at the end of Aug. I rang weekly, eventually requesting to be marked as a priority as my job involved driving and my company couldn’t continue to support me and it was negatively impacting husband’s work too as he was having to do everything for our kids yet works in a global role. Once marked as a priority it took 4 weeks as they wrote to my specialist. It took them from mid June - mid Aug to decide to write to my specialist who I then chased daily. It was only when I got upset on the phone did that get moving. I would remain in constant contact with them, write a letter of complaint and explain the impact on your life and causing an uneccessary level of stress at what is already a difficult time. Sadly in my experience I found it was those that shout loudest. I just wish i’d shouted louder sooner.

[Onedge93]

DVLA are useless. The "deadlines" they themselves provide for a response are ignored. What's the point in them telling people "we'll have a response in x weeks" if it's not true? It would be less cruel to not get people's hopes up and just say honestly that they don't know how long it will take.

Sorry for the mini-rant. I really don't trust the DVLA after everything my partner has been through with them. Rude people on the phone, being told something different every time you ring depending on who you speak to. Their incompetence is unbelievable sometimes. I also wonder why they don't correspond by email - letters are too slow, and surely just end up costing them more? I'm sure they'd bleat on about confidentiality, but anyone can open up a letter that isn't theirs, perhaps more easily than they can hack their email.

How long ago was your partner's brain injury/how long after it did you reapply for his licence? In my experience, there's absolutely no point applying early/trying to appeal against their decision to revoke, as they use their 6-months minimum off car driving in basically all cases (from reading the guidelines, it seems basically anything except concussion requires 6 months off). They are more strict with Group 2 licences, but the same applies that they won't budge on their guidelines. In my partner's case though, when he reapplied 6 months after his BI the process went quite smoothly for a change! However, this might be because they'd already investigated (during his appeal) all the things about seizures etc. so the time-consuming medical investigation was out of the way before he even reapplied. This bit did take a very long time, as doctors had to be contacted and medical records accessed.

[Leeds85]

Hi, thanks for the replies, he had his brain njury in November 2015, but it was when he went to the brain rehab Centre when it got revoked as they informed dvla so it's been approx 2 and half years since they revoked it. I reapplied in August for it as it was August 2017 when he had his last seizure so we thought it was best to wait until he had been a year seizure free as I knew they would not even consider him.

We just don't seem to be making progress we are now into week 12/13 of waiting for a response and given no information when ringing up.

The most frustrating part is that all his consultants, GPs and Brain Surgeon are in favour of him driving, however they said wait until they write to them rather than send supporting evidence. His application is currently with the medical team supervisor so I guess its a wait and see what happens over the next few week

[eileenleach]

Yes me it took months