Hi folks. My driving licence expires 29th June . I received a reminder in April and returned the questionnaire immediately. Having heard nothing, last week I tried to make an appointment with my GP for them to confirm I’m fit to drive pending news from DVLA, which is what I did in 2022, on which occasion my GP took a look at me, asked a few questions and happily confirmed I was OK to drive. This time they won’t even give me an appointment because they won’t give me a section 88 statement because DVLA have written to my consultant not them. I thought the “system” was that DVLA write to the consultant and if a licence expires before DVLA get a reply from the consultant, you get a temporary statement from your GP which enables you to carry on driving, on the basis that you should be able to see your GP quickly. Has anyone else encountered this problem? I can’t contact anyone till Monday now but I don’t expect the GP practice to change their mind and I’m not confident I can get to speak to my consultant. Any details of others’ experience with their GP would be appreciated.
Thanks
Keith
I don’t think you need a statement from your GP in these circumstances. Unless you’ve been informed that you shouldn’t drive you can continue to drive under section 88 for up to a year or until the DVLA complete their inquiries. That’s what I did when I renewed mine.
Thanks S_G. However it seems to me that without confirmation of fitness to drive from a doctor, I’d be relying on what amounted to self appraisal and I’m not sure how acceptable that would be to e.g the police or my insurer. I’m surprised there isn’t more explicit guidance on the subject.
The wording is unclear, isn’t it? It does specifically say that you shouldn’t drive if you’ve been told not to by your doctor but doesn’t make it clear whether you need to refer to the doctor otherwise. Maybe a call to the helpline might help?
For my first renewal, 4 years ago, the wording was rather different. It said explicitly “Your doctor must have told you that you are fit to drive”. I continued to drive on the basis that my consultant had told me I was ok to drive. Actually the DVLA then insisted that I see my GP because it was more then 6 months since the consultant had seen me. When I tried to make an appointment the GP surgery told me I would have to pay. Fortunately the letter asking me to get a medical stated “DVLA will make payment for the examination…You should not make any payment to the doctor, surgery or NHS trust”. When I showed this to the surgery they were fine with that.
That’s helpful. I’ll try a few calls on Monday-Help line, GP, consultant and email DVLA
hi
when first diagnosed went to see GP who completed questionaire for DVLA they accepted his word and have since not ask for another letter from GP but they contact neuro and ask his opinion then send me new licence for next three years, hope this helps
Just an update-I’ve just spoken to the DVLA again and the person I
spoke to said if in my opinion I was fit to drive, and I didn’t fall foul of any other provision of S.88 such as being told I was unfit to drive, that was enough. The conversation was recorded so if necessary I’ll refer back to that. In the meantime I’m still trying to get the hospital/GP to respond formally to the DVLA’s enquiries What a pain!
I believe you can still drive until your new license arrives these days civil servants may work from home and the response may take longer
Best of luck