I feel like I am going around in circles trying to get my dad a Drivin assessment
No one and I mean no one is willing to help me especially his GP they have basically written him off due to his visual field loss sayin they wouldn’t want him on the road!!! I said to the GP it isn’t down to you to decide you just have to say you he has adapted to his visual field loss which he has and then the assessment driving test will decide if they think he is safe on the road or not
I have tried to contact my fathers consultant but his secretary said this is no something he can do
I have tried to get an OT to do this but because he is no longer under one only way I can get this is to pay over £900 for a private one (what I was quoted)
I’m going out of my mind and all the while my father keeps asking me if I have done anything yet
I just want him to have an assessment and if they say no you can’t drive he will accept that but what he won’t accept is not even being given the chance to try
Have you tried asking for an ophthalmology appointment? They would be able to test his vision to see if he would meet the standard. Then maybe the GP would do the referral for the assessment. Failing that speak to the DVLA & see if they can offer any suggestions.
Update (@Annabirks dont give up, it’s just a very long process and you are up against the DVLA who seem to have an infinite number of ways to ask you for information you have already provided them!)
I requested to have the exceptional case criteria applied in July 2025 (when I became eligible 12 months after the stroke), with a covering letter addressing all of the points. After filling out forms and sending them back, only to get more forms to fill out in return-which were completed and sent back immediately-I had my licence revoked in December. Which was fine, as I surrendered it a year ago anyway. I then sent a further response a month ago, bullet pointing each of the exceptional case criteria and how I met them, and attached letters from stroke clinic and ophthalmology (both from 2024!) supporting this, and plus a new letter from my GP clarifying in very clear terms even the DVLA should be able to understand, the ‘full functional adaptation’ element. I even used a highlighter to highlight the relevant parts of the letters from ophthalmology and the stroke consultant!
I’ve had a reply today with yet another form, asking for the information I have already provided multiple times over the last 7 months . On the bright side, it is the EXCVIS form which I suppose means progress….it doesn’t make it any less frustrating though, especially when it’s the same information that has been provided over and over again, verbatim-with supporting evidence.
Apologies for the rant. Needed to get it off my chest and a) lots of people here understand and b) it might help someone going through the same seemingly endless cycle of forms!
@Vanhalen thanks, hopefully I’m right at the tail end of that for now, but that page was probably the clearest, most concise version of the process and what to expect I’ve encountered-should be helpful for anyone new who comes across this thread
The problem starts with the DVLA Medical Group not employing Consultant Opthalmists in the section dealing with vision. Instead they use non-medical administrators working to written instructions. There is a Secretary of State expert group who advise the DVLA, but the DVLA are not required to take their advice. The DVLA complaints staff are also non-medical, who in one instance made a statement that a compliant visual field can return more than 12 months after the stroke that caused it, but wrote that the DVLA did not have evidence to support that. Additionally, the alleged recovery 12 months later contradicted a written statement from a prominent expert on stroke-related vision loss, that recovery was “very unlikely”. In 2022, the DVLA said that I could not reapply for a PDAL and assessment as an exceptional case; I could only apply as someone with a compliant visual field.
My submitted evidence was two letters from my registered GP practice, written evidence from a member of the Secretary of State advisory group on vision and driving, and compliance certificates from a Council parks dept who had observed me using hedgecutters and strimmers in an open public park. The DVLA have not accepted that evidence. I have this case with the PHSO, but this is now in the fourth year, although the MP who submitted my case, is a senior minister in the Cabinet.
. On the bright side, it is the EXCVIS form which I suppose means progress….it doesn’t make it any less frustrating though, especially when it’s the same information that has been provided over and over again, verbatim-with supporting evidence.