DVLA are joke!!!
 

Earlier this year I had been getting bad chest pains but one morning my partner found me unconscious in bed and dialled 999. After coming round in the ambulance they thought I had pericarditis which is swelling round the heart but that was soon changed the following morning and the doctor said I has suffered an epileptic fit which we knew at the time surely couldn't be.

I was told I had to tell DVLA and that I was no longer allowed to drive, I done the right thing told them and within days I had letter saying hand my licence in we see you have had an epileptic fit if I refused I could of got £1000 fine. I sent it away but had a MMI scan and it come back complete fine and the hospital ruled out epilepsy (which I knew it wasn't anyway).

Now I've told dvla the doctors have said I'm fit to drive they don't want to part with sending me my license back! No ended times I've rang just to hear 'we are receiving a lot of calls at this present time' being told to ring later.

I finally got through and they have now told me I'm to await till February next year!!! My first letter originally stated I couldn't drive for 6months I am now perfectly fine and fit to drive but they are taking bloody ages. What really does my nut is they were quick to take it but don't want to return it!!

Is there anything I can do because they treat you like you were banned through drink drive and I feel they just don't care maybe if they got thier fingers out of each other's arses this would have been solved. I first wrote to them in April it's now bloody December!!

Get your doctor to write again and explain you are now fit to drive? I know that if you've passed out or anything they do say you have to be free for a year before you can drive. Maybe because it's unexplained they are just being cautious? I know it's annoying though. I'm not allowed to drive because I pass out and have to be free a year, which sucks. But I suppose if it's an unexplained collapse it could happen again and you would be classed as not being insured.

I'd chase it up with your doctor as well as the DVLA. I've recently contacted the DVLA about a health condition, and it is currently my doctor having to write a report that is the bottle neck in the process.

If you have had a fit it is a minimum of 6 months before they will give you your licence back regardless of whether you have being diagnosed with epilepsy or not. My cousin had her licence removed for 12 months after she had a fit, which at the time was not diagnosed as epilepsy.

Thanks for the replies, DVLA have written to my doctor and say they wait up to 6 weeks for an reply they have heard back from him but won't tell me what he's said and they have told me they can't do anything as its down to people who are 'specialists'. The doctor in hospital has already told me I'm fit to drive I don't understand why it takes so long they must have just a few members of staff! I know in future not to bloody tell DVLA they wouldn't of known any different. They are a shambles and so are the hospital diagnosing me with something that's completly wrong.

I've had my liscense taken off my twice because I was told to tell them about my mental illness but the second time it was taken off me because my gp couldnt comment on my mental state as I had been discharged back to the gp from mental health services a week before the gp got the form to fill out. I took virtually a year to get my liscense back eventhough I was obviously stable enough to be under the care of gp after 7 years under mental health services!

DVLA are so screwed up! I know have a year liscense (which I have actually got my renewal letter for. So I'm going to have to reapply and I'm expecting it to be taken away from me again just because the way it works is a dr fills out a form ticking boxes and then DVLA drs who have never met you will make th descion about weather you can drive.

I looked into the appeal thing and what you can do is get your dr to write a letter saying you are fit to drive and then send it in but you have to wait for the while assesmemt phase to go through so could be 3 months before you hear that way.

The other option is going the court root ( which seems to me to be the only way for you to actually get heard and getting your point of view across and not just a gp writing something) but it can cost thousands and if they say no you could have to pay the DVLAs fees as well and legal aid will not cover this kind of thing.

Sorry i have no good news!
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