Hi,
Why does it take so long to get your license back from DVLA? I sent mine off in June 6 weeks before it was due to come back. They got a letter from the hospital doctor at the end of July. Then they told me in September that I needed to have a medical by my GP. All done, now they are saying I need to have a driving assessment. this doesn't help with the way I feel at the moment. Another day of my crying and feeling down. All I want is for me to be free. Anybody know what the entails. x
Hi Chrissy, I waited for over 2 years before I got mine back. If the DVLA has recommended a driving assessment, find out which centre in you're area you will do the assessment & call them to enquire if they have received word from the DVLA of their recommendation. They will tell you one way or another if they have been contacted. I had to wait for ages too and its so frustrating! If they haven't heard then I recommend you email the customer complaints department of the DVLA. I did, and they did act quite quickly as I wanted to get back to work, told them they were being discriminating as it was preventing me from doing so. Thats when they acted straight away. I got mine back in March, & started back to work a month later. You really need to be persistent & keep on their backs. I live in Northern Ireland so not sure if its the same rules but imagine it would be. Fingers crossed you'll get you're licence back soon 😉
This has really crushed my hopes lol. I was hoping to get the all clear by the new year which would only be 5 months since I sent it to dvla, however my license was never ceased. Just wondering would I more than likely have to go through the same procedure?
Hi Chrissy, my GP gave me the number for the assessment centre, I phoned and arranged the appointment which took 6 months, I paid £100 or so. The assessment was extremely professional, did memory tests (which I failed) did 3D tests (which I failed) did spacial awareness tests (which I failed) and a load of other tests (which I passed), then went driving, the gods were with me that day, it was overcast and dark so was not affected by light sensitivity, back of the net. Went for a long discussion about driver safety and conditions to be aware of. I was deemed a good responsible citizen and was given my licience back, well sort of. The test results then get sent to the DVLA and the GP. My GP said it's up to the DVLA, then the DVLA said the decision was down to the GP. I hounded my GP for weeks until he finaly said he deemed it fit for me to drive, then I informed the DVLA who wanted it in writing, so another wait. Basically I passed the test in May and got the licence back in August.
It may take quite a bit of time to get all the pieces together so arrange an assessment asap, you can do it yourself you don't need the GP to do anything.
I am still waiting almost 12 months since reapplying. I had a medical with my GP several months ago, then chased DVLA a couple of months back and they just apologised and said it shouldn’t be long. I got the impression that it is a very small team that deal with the medical side of DVLA.
Have a look at a post of mine from 4 years ago called
Has anyone any advice for a DVLA driving assessment?
Our wonderful Headway family gave me lots of information and helped me be a lot less fearful.
It does take a frustratingly long time but there is nothing we can do about that.
Good luck
Hi, we had a similar issue applying for my partners back, the brain rehab unit told the dvla about my partners injuries yet his consultant said they shouldn’t have done that as he was the one who should make that decision. Anyway my partner had his accident in November 2015 and got his licence back in May 2019, we had to wait until August 2018 to apply for it as he had some post op seizures.
It literally took from the August to the May to get an assessment with the dvla, we had to fill in 4 forms and then the gp had to fill in some parts of it. The forms were sent back straight away but due to backlog on applicants the dvla just kept saying it’s in progress. My advice is keep hounding the dvla about it, I think they got fed up of me ringing up in the end. Eventually the letter came saying he had to have the assessment, i think we had to make the appointment so we live in East Yorkshire and the nearest centre was an hour away from us.
My partner was quite anxious about the assessment but he was so determined to get his licence back this helped. It was quite a long 2 hour process. Firstly he had to do this test paper but because of his lack of reading and understanding the question the assessor did read it to him and explained it, I was allowed to be in the room sat with him too. there was numeracy questions which he passed with flying colours, he had to draw two clock faces and put the times on (we already practiced this) he had to draw a 3d rectangle but fortunately for him his trade was a bricklayer so I told him to draw a brick. Following this he had to count backwards in 7s from 70, she said every time she said a certain letter he had to tap the table he was fine with this. The hard bit which he didn’t pass was the memory question she said a sentence he had to repeat it word for word, the first sentence he was fine and did it the second one he was bored and wasn’t listening so just made it up. Throughout the assessment he kept asking if he failed but she put his mind at rest and said don’t worry etc really that test isn’t part of whether you get your licence back more to see how your brain works.
He then went off on the driving assessment, the longest hour of my life. He said it just felt natural and all came back to him bearing in mind he hadn’t been in a car for 3 and a half years. He had to drive in a city and we live in a village but he said they stopped him and showed him a street name and he had to find it, it was on the right somewhere he said he was worried he wouldn’t find it but it was easier than he thought as his memory wasn’t great then. They also asked him to follow signs for a certain place his was york, he followed them then asked him to take the third exit at the roundabout etc. The hard part was there was lots of roadworks and lots of traffic. He was asked to do an emergency stop and then he came back. They tell you what they think so nothing was really mentioned about the test and they said they had no issues with his driving they would send the report to the dvla and the dvla would be in touch. I have them 10 days and rang up, his licence turned up approx 4 weeks after the assessment. I know how frustrating it is for you I was fed up of ringing the dvla asking them what’s happening etc, I think when it got to the medical department that’s what slowed the process down but my partner did have a long list of problems following his brain injury due to the seizures followed by the cranioplasty etc. My other bit of advice is get a letter from your consultant we used the brain rehab consultant he knew my partners aims to get back driving and we didn’t have to pay for the letter, in his letter he stated that he had no problem with him having his licence back. This resulted in a quicker process time as they didn’t have to contact the gp the only part the gp played was filling in his part of the paperwork when my partners last seizures were and ticking a box saying he agreed to the licence. He couldn’t disagree when the consultant had made the decision.
Hi Chrissy
I got mine back at the right time after asking my consultant to give me the authorisation. If the permission comes from him or her then there should be no problem at all.
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