Hi everyone
I could write a really long post about the difficulties my husband has had with DVLA.
It appears this is a common theme.
One question I’d really be pleased to hear any answers or advice on is this:
Has anyone failed a visual field test yet still been given the opportunity to do an on road assessment?
And managed to get their licence back?
Many thanks in advance
Kelly
Hi Kelly my name is Peter i had a stroke in August 2022,I was given the wrong information about getting back to driving as a result i went to driveabitlity .This was the first time i had driven since my stroke and was told to follow ther instructions on a drive.The drive was not very good the examiner said it appeared my spactial awareness was poor and affecting my driving.I had license revoked i then over six months I took a course of driving lessons and applied for my license. I a took test at drive ability with a cognitive test first then the assessment.It was all very stressful but im glad to say I passed and got license back last August.So it took me year to be able to drive again , please try and be positive the department s do try to help but they seem to run very slowly .Peter
Hi Peter
Thank you for your message.
Forgive me, but I’m a little confused how you had driving lessons if your licence was revoked. My understanding is that you have to have a licence in order to take lessons?
Thanks
Kelly
Sorry my fault a had to apply for a provisional license to take some refresher lessons,but at first they only issued me a provisional for ONE day, the day of my assessment. I cancelled this assessment and appealed and they eventually gave ma a provisional licence for one month.
The wheels at the DVLA turn extremely slowly. After two years out of the blue a couple of weeks before Christmas I opened a letter to discover a new valid license. The waiting and requirement to not try to contact them had left me certain that nothing would ever come of my application and subsequent driving assessment.
The assessment team warned me that if it was not safe for me to get behind a wheel then that would be the end of it. They added that if there was a way to make driving safe, by recommended additions and alterations then they weren’t there to stop anyone from driving safely and would encourage it.
Hi Kelly @Kellystableford & welcome to the community.
Many of us have encountered problems with the DVLA & it seems to take forever to get anywhere with them.
I think there is a minimum visual standard that has to be met to ensure safety on the road for all. My visual issues weren’t with my visual field but I know of people whose visual field has improved over time & they have then been able to get their licence back.
Best wishes
Ann
I havent had the exact issues with my vision but i did loose my license for visual inatttention but i have been given the all clear now to drive again try googling “eye search ucl” for tests and vision training and i just noticed the SA logo on their website now. I find the posit science-brain hq app good and quite challenging for all abilities too
Never, ever take anything I say as fact! And that pretty much applies even beyond stroke related subjects!
But my stroke was now akmost exactly 14 months ago. I lost all my right hand side peripheral vision (and that’s the short and dirty version, the reality is that my entire world to the right of centre has gone walkabout!) and I was a car mechanic who retired three weeks pre-stroke! So my beloved Honda Civic Type R had to go. But, well, I know I can’t drive, I don’t complain.
(actually, just between ourselves. I complain like (expletive!) but I don’t want to kill anyone so…)
A significant number of people who have had a stroke have visual disability, usually a variant of hemianopia, which means part of the vision (known as the visual field) is missing. The DVLA will revoke a driving licence if the visual field is less than their requirements. Those requirements are less for car drivers and motorcyclists (known as Group 1 drivers), and more stringent for commercial drivers such as lorries (known as Group 2 drivers). Group 1 drivers who were revoked because of the visual field, can apply as an Exceptional Case, twelve months after their licence has been revoked, provided that they meet conditions including a supporting letter from a medical professional. If this is after February 2020, you may be granted a provisional disability assessment licence (PDAL) with a short duration such as three months, that must relate to an assessment appointment at a designated centre. The PDAL allows refresher driving lessons as a provisional driver (even though you previously held a full licence).
The assessment centre will test your reaction time, strength, and cognition (Rookwood Driving Battery). You will drive the centre’s car on a 50-minute route on a variety of roads, whilst monitored by a driving assessor and occupational therapist in the car. At the end, they will tell you what they are going to recommend to the DVLA who make the final decision.
If your licence was revoked before February 2020, the PDAL was only for the driving assessment, so you would not have driven for at least 12 months before you drove an unfamiliar car on an unfamiliar route. That was changed in February 202, but the policy was not backdated; that affected at least 12,800 revoked drivers (written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee).
My licence was revoked before 2020, but DVLA Medical Licensing said that I could reapply. I had written support from two GPs, but my application was refused by the DVLA as my eyesight had not improved. They later advised the improvement required was normal sight that would not require a PDAL. The DVLA assert that normal vision can return twelve months after hemianopia has occurred, but admit that they do not have evidence to support that statement. Additionally, the DVLA stated in a PHSO case in 2018 that full sight will not return. Despite evidence from a prominent expert on stroke-related visual disability, the DVLA would not change their decision. My submission to the PHSO (Ombudsman) in 2022 has yet to reach preliminary findings, even though my MP is a senior Minister in the Cabinet.
@John_Boy hi & welcome to the community.
I hope you manage to get your licence issue resolved soon. It certainly seems to be taking a long time.
Thank you so much for this information and taking the time to respond. I hope that you do get some good news soon, it sounds like it’s been so difficult for you.
The DVLA have decided my partner can have an opportunity for an on road assessment which is great news. He is now having some lessons prior to the assessment, he has had two lessons to date, and so far so good. Fingers crossed.
Hi Kelly, that’s great news and I wish him luck.
Things may have changed, but the following description of the assessment may help. The assessment is by a trained driving assessor who is an ADI, and an occupational therapist. You are invited into a room and asked to talk about the stroke and your life. This is where the occupational therapist is evaluating whether you have cognitive or aphasia issues; that will determine which cognitive tests then follow. This can be to draw a circular clock face, with the hands at ten-to-two or ten-past-eleven. They may engage you in conversation at the same time. You need to draw the best circle that you can with the hands starting from the centre (needs to be accurate), and of course the time must be accurate too. As a separate test, you can also be given a word to remember, and then you must listen to recorded instructions to undertake a task, but identify when that remembered word is heard.
There may be a strength test of either legs and/or arms and hands on a mock-up of brake pedals and a steering wheel.
If this has been OK, you sit in a stationary car and two brake lights will be put on the front of the bonnet and connected to a laptop. One or both brake lights will come on and the reaction time to hit the brake pedal is recorded on the laptop. That test may be repeated several times. If that has been satisfactory, and you can read a registration plate correctly at 20 metres, you move on to the driving assessment.
Unless things have changed, you will drive the test centre’s car. Initially this will be around the car park and include an emergency stop before driving on public roads. You will be given instructions to drive on a variety of road types, probably in an area that is unfamiliar. This isn’t a driving test, but you will be expected to drive well; quick avoidance of pot holes seems to be an issue.
When this concludes, the driving assessor and occupational therapist will give a summary of the assessment, but cannot say whether you have passed. They will provide a written report to the DVLA who decide if the full licence is reinstated. If you think that you’ve driven well and to the instructions, that may not be enough to regain the licence.
My written evidence was published by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the DVLA backlog.