My husband was diagnosed with Parkinsons in March 2012. He immediately informed DVLA resulting in a 3 year licence from July that year. In March this year he saw his consultant and mentioned he would soon have to renew his licence. His comment was 'you'd better do it soon, it's been taking a while'. We received the renewal form on 16th April and sent it back on 17th April. As July approached we began to get a bit jittery about how long it was taking. I rang DVLA in mid June and they said it was being reviewed. On 26th June my husband received a letter saying that 'due to high volume of medical enquiries.... it may take at least 9 weeks to be reviewed'. I rang DVLA to ask if this was 9 weeks from the submission date or 9 weeks from the date of the letter and was told it was the date of the letter - this taking it way past the date his old licence would expire. So from early July he was no longer able to drive. This caused him great anxiety, particularly as he had recently had a hip revision operation and though he was well over this operation he was still not able to walk great distances. He was basically, as he called it, under house arrest. I am at work all day, and I don't drive and daily he became more and more depressed. I rang DVLA on 2 occasions during this time and was told they were 'behind'. On 24th July he had an appointment with his Parkinson's nurse and we told her about this. She was horrified that it was taking so long and suggested ringing his consultant's secretary to see if there was any way he could help. The nurse also confirmed that the consultant had sent back the questionnaire in May. I contacted the secretary and asked if he could write a supporting letter confirming that my husband's licence should be renewed. Some time later we received a copy of this letter which had been sent to DVLA, and which confirmed his support for my husband's licence to be renewed. Happily my husband is now driving again, but is not happy that he is doing so without a valid licence, so he only drives short distances when necessary. On 28th August we rang the DVLA again (by this time the 9 weeks had well gone) and were told that admin is 5 weeks behind and the doctors are 12 weeks behind. We were also told that his review was sent to the doctors in July and they were currently working on papers sent to them in May!!!
This has also had a financial effect, as our car insurance was due at the begriming of September and we could have got it £100+ cheaper if we had gone elsewhere, but were too worried to change our insurers as explaining the situation with his licence would have been far too complicated.
So, we are still waiting. Surely Parkinson's could use it's might to lobby the DVLA about this situation. This unacceptable delay is causing anxiety and enormous stress to sufferers of all medical conditions; often a car is a lifeline for people with Parkinsons - it certainly is for my husband. It's obvious that the DVLA need more staff, help us to ensure this awful situation does not continue.
I'd love to her other people's experiences.