COVID-19 and DVLA

[BigMatt]

Hi I'm Matt and I was convicted of drink driving in June 2019 and banned for 18 months, which was reduced to 14 months following completion of a DD rehab course last October. I am considered an HRO due to the amount of alcohol that was present in my system at the time I was breathalysed.

I have registered on this fine site due to the fact that I am drawing a blank elsewhere in trying to find out when HRO medicals will resume or when I will be able to send in an application to DVLA for the return of my licence (my ban is due to expire on the 31st of July 2020).

I haven't received a D27PH form in the post and it is now well beyond the 90 days before disqualification expiry date. The company who I completed the rehab course with said I would be able to apply for my licence to be returned on June 20th 2020 - is this still the case or will DVLA not accept the application if I do send it owing to current circumstances? There seems to be so many grey areas regarding the subject.

I'm not a key worker by the way, but there are several health issues regarding my family which mean getting my licence back on time would be a big help, but if I have to play the waiting game and remain patient along with thousands of others in these unprecedented times then so be it - all I'm looking for is some clarification and what we should or shouldn't do as things stand at present.

I understand that there are bound to be delays and a subsequent backlog due to the current COVID-19 crisis as DVLA are apparently still operating on a skeleton staff and I'm not here to moan that I won't get my licence back on due date, but I'd be very grateful if someone could let me know what I should do as there is very little guidance out there on the matter and I haven't been able to speak to anyone at DVLA despite my efforts to contact them.

Thanks in advance for your replies and apologies if this matter has already been discussed in depth elsewhere on the forum.

Cheers - Matt.

 

[Sarah39]

Hi , if u go on DVLA medical discussion there’s a section corona virus for HROs lots of information and people’s experiences On there . I was due my license back on the 25th of may but due to covid19 I haven’t got my license and there is no news as to when I will get it .

 

[BigMatt]

Hi , if u go on DVLA medical discussion there’s a section corona virus for HROs lots of information and people’s experiences On there . I was due my license back on the 25th of may but due to covid19 I haven’t got my license and there is no news as to when I will get it .

Hi Sarah - thanks for your response and sorry to hear you're stuck in limbo, it's frustrating but at least we are safe and well that's the main thing.
I'll check the DVLA medical thread...let's hope that normal operations resume at DVLA in the very near future and that we can all start to get on with normal life again.

 

[Recovered22]

I know someone who sent their application mid march and it's still not been scanned onto the system. The DVLA asked the public not to send in any applications but judging by other posts on this forum it's quite common that people have applied anyway. We can expect that the DVLA will now have a mountain of applications to go through when they start to return to their usual capacity. I wouldn't send your application until the DVLA updates their website to reflect that they are accepting applications as your application will just land on the pile that have all been sent in since march.

This is just speculation but I expect applications that have been sent in when the DVLA are accepting applications will be dealt with in a more timely manner than the team that will be stuck working through the backlog.