How to make a complaint about the DVLA medical assessment process

Hro medical (your experiences)

Convicted Driver Insurance
Ritchie1957 said:
Thank you for that well done and phew eh?? I'll have abstained for 8 weeks before my medical as stupidly had a few at Christmas after being abstinent for a year....so instead of panicking hopefully I'll be OK? Congrats and thank you for letting us know. How long in all we're you abstinent? Can't see your note again from here!!
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Ritchie1957 said:
Thank you for that well done and phew eh?? I'll have abstained for 8 weeks before my medical as stupidly had a few at Christmas after being abstinent for a year....so instead of panicking hopefully I'll be OK? Congrats and thank you for letting us know. How long in all were you abstinent? Can't see your note again from here!!
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Thank you! I only abstained for 15 days. Drank a ridiculous amount of water, and all the vitamins. Milk thistle, taurine etc. Everything that I read on this forum!
 
Farmersboy said:
Took exactly 1 week from medical to seeing I’ve been granted a 7 year licence today!
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Congratulations on getting your licence back (I'm guessing it would have been a 10 year licence, had your photo been recent?). :)

Farmersboy said:
Thank you! I only abstained for 15 days. Drank a ridiculous amount of water, and all the vitamins. Milk thistle, taurine etc. Everything that I read on this forum!
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I'm happy that the forum helped you, just as it has helped me. The update is appreciated and will no doubt help others too.
 
Should also mention I blew 104 on breathalyser. First time offender with no alcohol related issues with GP or DVLA, which as earlier poster suggested it was probably around the 1.7 mark as the medichecks was 3.4 and with only 15 days abstinent I’ve probably got to 1.7. With alcohol having a 14 day half life that makes sense, I’m only basing this on the hours I’ve spent researching! The only true advice however is to abstain as long as possible, I wish I’d not pushed it and given it the full 4 weeks and I just count myself blessed!
 
Farmersboy said:
Hi everyone, been trawling this page for weeks like so many trying to reassure myself for my medical! Here’s been my experience:

I’m a 28 year old healthy male, banned for 25 months down to 19 with the reform drink driving course.

Went for a medichecks medical on the 3rd of January (after a heavy December, I’m in the hospitality industry and had 4 or 5 binges between Christmas and new year) results came back at 3.4. Abstained for 15 days before the DVLA medical; lots of water, vitamins and exercise. Took exactly 1 week from medical to seeing I’ve been granted a 7 year licence today!
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Hi, how did you have 15 days of abstinence if your test was on the 3rd and you binged between Christmas and new year?
 
Medichecks CDT test is a private test that has nothing to do with the DVLA medical. Had his CDT been 3.4% for the DVLA medical, he wouldn't have received his driving licence.
 
Farmersboy said:
Should also mention I blew 104 on breathalyser. First time offender with no alcohol related issues with GP or DVLA, which as earlier poster suggested it was probably around the 1.7 mark as the medichecks was 3.4 and with only 15 days abstinent I’ve probably got to 1.7. With alcohol having a 14 day half life that makes sense, I’m only basing this on the hours I’ve spent researching! The only true advice however is to abstain as long as possible, I wish I’d not pushed it and given it the full 4 weeks and I just count myself blessed!
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Update.. just received the dvla letter, my CDT level was 0.9. So I got my levels from around the 3 mark to 0.9 in 15 days. As I said there were quite a few binges in the period up to the medichecks test, but I wouldn’t have thought I’d be able to drop it so dramatically in that time. Which makes me question the accuracy. Who knows.

Anyway, good luck everyone! I wasn’t able to drive my new born daughter home from the hospital, the lowest point of my ban. All deserved of course but I feel the punishment has been well spent. The wait feels never ending but it does end.. eventually!
 
Farmersboy said:
Update.. just received the dvla letter, my CDT level was 0.9. So I got my levels from around the 3 mark to 0.9 in 15 days. As I said there were quite a few binges in the period up to the medichecks test, but I wouldn’t have thought I’d be able to drop it so dramatically in that time. Which makes me question the accuracy. Who knows.

Anyway, good luck everyone! I wasn’t able to drive my new born daughter home from the hospital, the lowest point of my ban. All deserved of course but I feel the punishment has been well spent. The wait feels never ending but it does end.. eventually!
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Fantastic news! Congratulations!
 
Farmersboy said:
Update.. just received the dvla letter, my CDT level was 0.9. So I got my levels from around the 3 mark to 0.9 in 15 days. As I said there were quite a few binges in the period up to the medichecks test, but I wouldn’t have thought I’d be able to drop it so dramatically in that time. Which makes me question the accuracy. Who knows.

Anyway, good luck everyone! I wasn’t able to drive my new born daughter home from the hospital, the lowest point of my ban. All deserved of course but I feel the punishment has been well spent. The wait feels never ending but it does end.. eventually!
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Well done mate
 
Hi folks.

I've posted my story a few times before, but ostensibly I've been banned twice and had my licence reinstated twice, with the latter being a 1 year licence that I had issued in two consecutive years. The most recent of those expires in July 2024 so I'll be submitting the renewal paperwork at the end of March, but I wondered what the general timescales are at the moment? The last two times I waited 15 months and 13 months respectively from sending the application to receiving my licence (complicated slightly by me being both a HRO and having sleep apnoea).
 
lryoung81 said:
Hi folks.

I've posted my story a few times before, but ostensibly I've been banned twice and had my licence reinstated twice, with the latter being a 1 year licence that I had issued in two consecutive years. The most recent of those expires in July 2024 so I'll be submitting the renewal paperwork at the end of March, but I wondered what the general timescales are at the moment? The last two times I waited 15 months and 13 months respectively from sending the application to receiving my licence (complicated slightly by me being both a HRO and having sleep apnoea).
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It's difficult to say, because by March the timescale will have no doubt changed. At the moment it's anything from about 3 months (low rate of users claiming such) up to about 6 months. I'd give it an average of about 4 months, as long as there aren't any complications or delays with each step of the process. Unfortunately it really is, 'how long is a piece of string?'.
 
Sadly there are also a fair few people on this forum that have been waiting a lot longer than that. I suspect that given you've got sleep apnoea the DVLA will no doubt have to get in contact with the sleep clinic/sleep services too. I wouldn't even want to guess how that could affect your licence renewal wait time.
 
Xeronema said:
It's difficult to say, because by March the timescale will have no doubt changed. At the moment it's anything from about 3 months (low rate of users claiming such) up to about 6 months. I'd give it an average of about 4 months, as long as there aren't any complications or delays with each step of the process. Unfortunately it really is, 'how long is a piece of string?'.
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Thanks Xeronema. To be honest, I'd be delighted if it was less than a year, so potentially 6 months is a winner! Will need to wait and see, I suppose.

At least it sounds like the DVLA are finally starting to get their shit in order!!
 
lryoung81 said:
At least it sounds like the DVLA are finally starting to get their shit in order!!
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Well I don't know about that.

I've noticed that you can shave some time off by calling the DVLA occasionally to check that they are not waiting on the GP or yourself for anything. There have been a few occasions where they have said they are waiting on the GP, yet they wait weeks (sometimes longer) before they write a letter out to you to say they haven't heard back from your GP. Stuff like that obviously adds a considerable amount of time to the wait.
 
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