I just had my 3 year driving license review with the DVLA. The reason given was ‘your health condition causes excessive sleepiness’. Note that this refers to Parkinsosn itself rather than any medication.
This will be because I ticked a box about sleepiness, by which I meant my medication can make me drowsy on long motorway journeys, which my wife now drives instead of me, but there was no opportunity on the form to clarify the situation.
I’ve read the question again and it now seems to be asking a diffeent thing to my original interpretation. the question wording is ‘due to parkinsons do you experience sleepiness that can affect your ability to control your vehicle safely’
sso i can now see the question means ‘does your parkinsons disease make you sleepy’ rather than ‘does yiour medication make you sleepy’.
I feel ive been tricked by an ambiguous question into losing my license, i openly declared i get some drowsiness (on long motrway journeys but had no way to say that) due to my medication (which again I had no way to clarify). the DVLA seem to be turning me down on an incorrect interpretation that i meant my parkinsosn disease makes me drowsy (which i understand is only the case in the late stages).
Does anyone have any experience with querying this question and what it really is asking. there seems no way to ‘query’ the decision, as opposed to supplying fresh evidence or going through a court to an appeal.
Hi @treebeard123, thank you for your post and welcome to the community. We hope you are able to find the answers you need.
We are sorry to hear about the difficulty you’ve been having with the DVLA and understand how frustrating this must be for you. We have information on our website about Parkinson’s and driving which you may find useful: Driving and Parkinson's | Parkinson's UK
If you need to speak to someone, or need any advice, please call our free helpline on 0808 800 0303. Our specialists will be able to offer you advice to help you with the DVLA and listen to your concerns.
We hope this helps. Please reach out if there is anything we can do.
Good afternoon Treebeard … Welcome to the thread. I am 71 and was diagnosed with Parkinsons in June 2023. I do have a blue badge & I could not manage without one.
You seem to have screwed yourself with your honesty when filling out the form. There is no way the DVLA will renew your licence if you tell them you feel drowsy when driving [any distance]. Do not forget this is a 3 year licence & minor conditions like feeling sleepy when driving are likely to worsen rather than get better.
Clearly you are a sensible person and would not drive the car long distances so the sleepy issue and falling asleep at the wheel & causing an accident is very likely to occur.
These “official” forms from the NHS and DVLA do have awkward to answer questions.
Like how far can you walk … Most good days walking 50 yards for me is ok. I might be able to walk 100 yards, but after 50 yards walking is very uncomfortable. I struggle to cross roads, if I am waiting for more than 2 minutes for a space between cars to allow me to cross I “freeze” and cannot move. I cannot walk to the pelican crossing as it would add 80 to 100 yards to my walk which I cannot really manage. If I lost my blue badge I could not walk to the nearest bus stop as it is 200 yards away.
As I live alone my choice would be taxi, which I would struggle to afford, or never leave my flat.
So my answer to how far can I walk is 50 yards.
I think when filling out forms we have to be aware that our answers dictate whether we will get the “concession” we are after.
Perhaps write a letter saying that you only drive your car short distances and have never had an issue with feeling sleepy during your driving. Feeling sleepy driving long distances is an issue for all drivers.
Best of luck & do let us know how you get on.
Having a wife who can drive does not help your case. But I am sure you love her and getting divorced might be a bit drastic.
Hello,
I am sorry to hear the problems you have encountered with the DVLA.
I have tried to search for an article I read within the last week or so in regards to how the Government are tightening up on medical licences and their renewals. I can not recall all the details butbit di d mention various medications and conditions that would potentially mean that you would not get a licence. Amongst the list of conditions it did mention neurological degenerative conditions, though it did not go in to a lot of detail and of course being a newspaper article it could be the journalist take on the subject.
I hope it was just journalism speculation as I will be starting the process shortly of applying for a renewal of my licence and I would hate to lose my independence of being able to drive myself.
Good luck in any manadtory reconsideration or appeal process that you may have to go through. Just another hoop that seems to being put in the way of disabled people, as if we do not already have enough to deal with.
Hi, I recently went to my Doctor for a “Medical” & one of the questions was on sleepiness & he could see that I was tired without asking me BUT it was still quite early in the day !! When i’m at the wheel i’m very alert but he put me down as being tired & my licence was reduced to one year from three of which I was pretty miffed about. Deep down I know there’s going to come a time when I will have to hang up my licence but not yet !!
