There are legal requirements about not driving after a stroke. Please check out what applies to you and how long you have to stop driving after your stroke. The DVLA web site does give information about this. It is also covered on the form you have to complete when you renew you licence once you turn 70. It is simple to understand and how to comply with the legal requirements.
I wasn’t able to drive for 3 months after my stroke and had to be cleared by DVLA before i could start again. I had an sight assessment with SpecSavers and medical assessment with my GP.
I found the whole process very stressful but they did let me keep my licence.
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I am glade it worked out ok for you as it takes so much work to get your driving licence to start with.
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Im still waiting 9 months after my stroke. The consultant said as far as he’s concerned I’m fit but the dvla have sent a form asking about alcohol intake. I have about 10 units a week. That’s 4 cans. I can’t walk very far so it doesn’t bother me at the moment but soon hopefully it will.
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@Noel hi & welcome to the forum. Hopefully you’ll find lots of helpful advice & support on the forum.
Hope the DVLA sort your licence soon for you.
Best wishes
Ann
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@BobFage i have been trying since January of this year to get my licence back. i had seizures caused by my stroke so needed to be one year seizure free. had to have stroke, neurology and cardiologist alongside sleep consultants to say i was fit to drive, they did not consider the letters i sent in from all of them stating i should return to driving, i too had the Specsavers eye test. by the time i get my licence back, i wont be able to afford the £12.50 per day that our stupid London mayor has imposed on us in outer London.
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Hi @Noel
Just popping by to add my welcome. I know you’ve been here since June but this is the first time We’ve had a chance to say hello.
I hope you’re finding the forum a good source of support. I trust you’ve seen the welcome post
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Thankyou simon. I’ve been doing the exercise the stroke association provide ( amber) I’m ready to get a bit more adventurous now.
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I think the word seizures is what has set that off. The doctors in the stroke unit advised me the time not to drive following a TIA. I am also sure it was on the DVLA site, but I will see if I can find it. But specsavers are the issue also in the issue.
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You’re not legally allowed to drive for a month after a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Some people have to stop driving for longer, or will not be able to drive again. This page explains what to do if you are a driver, including when to tell the DVLA (DVA in Northern Ireland). This is a cut and paste from the Stroke Association which seems to confirm what I had said. So I think it is the other issues you have. I fully agree about the London zone for clean air has gone over board with the £12.50 charge But I do not understand Chris why the £12.50 charge relates to your stroke issues. While I have been writing my wife has been checking the DVLA site. the issue of a seizures requires you to fill out a DVLA form FEP1 to advise the them. But if it was a TIA then providing it has stopped then it is 4 weeks from the last TIA. Hope that helps Chris. Not the news you were hoping for but there is a section on the stroke association site that covers it just search stroke driving. Let me know about the London charges. Thanks for answering my message …Bob
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Do you know that Nicola and Lisa are running a zoom-based group doing the exercises starting soon ?
I Posted on here recently when they advertised to me in email, if you search my recent activity you should find it headed " From online.activities"
If it still as it was when I did it they use the red amber and green videos and have a cohort they go through each section of the video over about half an hour or 40 minutes. There’s one video a week for each ability level / colour
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Yes, thanks Simon. I’ve just completed the amber course but I am not stable enough to do the green. The support we get from the stroke association is marvellous can’t thank them enough.
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I’m glad you find it so.
Did you set a WhatsApp group (or alternative) up with the other attendees from the series that you did? It’s the peer accountability that is the on going factor
I’ve been trying to suggest in groups like this that a space dedicated to that peer support would be invaluable imho
Caio
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I never thought of that, maybe when I’m strong enough to graduate to green group I’ll suggest that. Good idea.
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Hi @BobFage the £12.50 charge means that I can’t afford that price, as have no income, my husband covers all our bills etc so disposable money to pay for all intents and purposes is a tax.
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No-one has mentioned anything about whether I should drive or not. Of course, I’m unable to drive at all , currently, but I would have thought that SOMEONE (doctor, nurse, therapist, etc.) would have said SOMETHING! I keep looking out of my window at my car and wondering if I should dispose of it.
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They should have mentioned it, at least they did with me while I was in hospital. I’d had 2 TIA’s, the consultant reckoned I’d be back driving within 6mths. It took more like 18mths before I was back behind the wheel. The stroke team that came to my home also mentioned it.
I voluntarily surrendered my licence after I got out of hospital because it was up for renewal in a couple months anyway and we were in lockdowns. DVLA wrote to my gp and the hospital about my condition and I got it back almost a year later. But I still wasn’t up to driving mentally because cognition and reaction time were still off.
It’s going to be at least a year for you I suspect. You mentioned a wheelchair and the lack of strength in you right hand and arm in your first post. But all is not lost, when the time comes, if need be you could get a car adapted for you to drive. There are a few folk in my aphasia group who have them, one guy who has no use of his right arm at all and his right leg drags but has been driving for years post stroke. Where there’s a will there’s a way as the saying goes. 
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I was told numerous times in hospital that I wouldn’t be able to drive for at least 3 months & that I had to ve cleared by DVLA before I coukd return to driving. It was also in my discharge letter & I was given a copy of the Stroke Association leaflet on driving after a stroke.
I have my licence now but i drive very very little as I find it exhausting.
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@Momma - thanks for the like. So sorry you’ve joined the best club with no application process or waiting list 
It’s very disorientation and frightening for all. For most of us things do improve with work, you maybe one of the luckiest where deficits decrease -even disappeared in the next few weeks otherwise you should pace yourself for a marathon.
Take all the rest your new brain demands. Encourage your husband to also take rest of he’s a significant part of care and neither of you are to entertain any feelings of guilt - You’re likely to have enough to deal with with anxiety, emotionality, frustration…
I hope you have medical and family support, they won’t ‘get it’ like the folk on here do (you can celebrate, ask questions, rant and vent to us - celebrate is the best, vent sometimes is the most needed 
If your journey is typical the medical staff will display expertise about individual topics but not much in the way of knowledge across the whole spectrum. They will be slow and uninformative
You’re going to have to learn a lot yourself and integrate it into a new-normal post-stroke life journey journey. A good way to do that is to read lots of posts and to learn how to use the magnifying glass.
One post to start with is perhaps the welcome post click blue text that a number of us put together cooperatively.
Caio
Simon
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Thank you I’m grateful for your explanations as I am having difficulty with the people around me as they ‘don’t get it’ I am struggling trying to know what to do next and I’m so tired and my words get mixed up.
Thank you
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