Hro medical (your experiences)

Convicted Driver Insurance
1) Date you applied for new licence: Feb 2016
2) Date when you got the letter to book medical: March 2016
3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical: March 2016
4) Date of Medical: April 2016
5) Date of Results and Outcome: After a farse with the DVLA's appointed GP for the examination sending details of my own GP to the wrong address. I was due my license back on the 27th May, I know that the results are fine as I requested them from my GP along with all copies or requests and responses they gave to the DVLA (no problems). However now around 5 weeks and still nothing. I daren't bother calling them anymore, as they just say, it is with the department. I really don't understand what they are waiting around for considering all results are fine.


Period of abstinence prior to actual medical Date:
More than two weeks without drink
Drinking habits prior to abstinence period: At Least 2-3 litre bottles of water through out the day and night, lots of green tea and healthy foods rich in iron and fibre.
 
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1) Date you applied for new licence:

17/6/16

2) Date when you got the letter to book medical:

Approx two weeks later.

3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical:

The following Monday (roughly 1/7/16)

4) Date of Medical:

20/7/16

5) Date of Results and Outcome:

Pending (Doctor indicated things looked good, however said he could not comment)


Also Please state:

1) Period of abstinence prior to actual medical Date:

33 days

2) Drinking habits prior to abstinence period:

The usual Friday night binge. Lager and Mixers, approx 18 units one a week.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hello everyone.

I've been a lurker on here for some time but as I've made tracks in MY story it's time to share.


Banned for 24 months in Jan '15

Lost job, quite a few friends and went into a spiral of depression.

Completed course around Feb which reduced it to 18 months.

Sent off for new licence 12th May.

Received letter with doctor's information on the 25th.

Phoned doctors' surgery (33 miles away from my address) and they only had 13th Jul as the earliest slot so I phoned DVLA straight away and made sure this was OK as it fell out of the 6 week window. They said it was (pheww!)

Now, I had abstained from drinking almost completely for around 6 weeks apart from the odd pint here and there.

13th Jul arrives. Go to doc. We sit there and he fills out the questionnaire while asking me the questions. Nice chap too!

He asks me to take off my top, sit up on the bed thingy and prods me around the middle, checks my arms for strength then I'm asked to lay down where he then checks my legs and feet for strength also.

Next I have to walk in a straight line heel to toe (OK) and then do the eyesight scale (OK)

Top back on, time for the blood test (hate needles!, such a wuss, lol) he takes my blood pressure which he claimed to be 'perfect' so I'm happy.

He siphoned about 5ml of blood out, injected it into the tube to be sent away and there was a smidgeon (1ml) of blood left to which he jokingly asked if I wanted back. That made me laugh! :D

A bit about me....

I'm not exactly what you'd call healthy. I'm male, 34, slightly overweight (used to be quite a bit over) eat crap - pizzas, microwave meals etc and I don't sleep much.

Right, so medical on 13th Jul.
Checked the driving licence website regularly since a few days after and on the 22nd (9 days after the med) my licence has been reinstated with all categories and I expect the actual card will drop through the post either tomorrow or soon after.

Due back on the road Aug.10th
Insurance paid for and MOT done.

Happy Days! :)

G.
 
Hello everyone.

I've been a lurker on here for some time but as I've made tracks in MY story it's time to share.


Banned for 24 months in Jan '15

Lost job, quite a few friends and went into a spiral of depression.

Completed course around Feb which reduced it to 18 months.

Sent off for new licence 12th May.

Received letter with doctor's information on the 25th.

Phoned doctors' surgery (33 miles away from my address) and they only had 13th Jul as the earliest slot so I phoned DVLA straight away and made sure this was OK as it fell out of the 6 week window. They said it was (pheww!)

Now, I had abstained from drinking almost completely for around 6 weeks apart from the odd pint here and there.

13th Jul arrives. Go to doc. We sit there and he fills out the questionnaire while asking me the questions. Nice chap too!

He asks me to take off my top, sit up on the bed thingy and prods me around the middle, checks my arms for strength then I'm asked to lay down where he then checks my legs and feet for strength also.

Next I have to walk in a straight line heel to toe (OK) and then do the eyesight scale (OK)

Top back on, time for the blood test (hate needles!, such a wuss, lol) he takes my blood pressure which he claimed to be 'perfect' so I'm happy.

He siphoned about 5ml of blood out, injected it into the tube to be sent away and there was a smidgeon (1ml) of blood left to which he jokingly asked if I wanted back. That made me laugh! :D

A bit about me....

I'm not exactly what you'd call healthy. I'm male, 34, slightly overweight (used to be quite a bit over) eat crap - pizzas, microwave meals etc and I don't sleep much.

Right, so medical on 13th Jul.
Checked the driving licence website regularly since a few days after and on the 22nd (9 days after the med) my licence has been reinstated with all categories and I expect the actual card will drop through the post either tomorrow or soon after.

Due back on the road Aug.10th
Insurance paid for and MOT done.

Happy Days! :)

G.


Received lab report back today and CDT was 0.5% which was a surprise.
 
1) Date you applied for new licence: 17/06/2016

2) Date when you got the letter to book medical: 28/06/2016

3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical: No letter sent back, juSt called up from details on letter 04/07/2016

4) Date of Medical: 27/07/2016

5) Date of Results and Outcome: 08/08/2016 - Phoned DVLA everyday from this point, at this stage they had received my blood test results however one of the pages sent from the franchise doctor had not scanned into the system properly so the DVLA had contacted them asking them to fax it over again. I contacted the Dr's surgery myself also asking them to treat it urgently as i am very impatient! (she said she would fax it within the next 5mins)

11/04/2016 - Contacted DVLA who advised that the page was still missing and can take up to 5 days to be rescanned (LIBERTY!)

12/08/2016 - As surprising as it is the DVLA actually phoned ME just after lunch!! (I think purely because I was on their case constantly and they had probably had enough of me hahaha) The lady I spoke to had confirmed that the documents had been rescanned and a decision has now been made. ITS A PASS! Unrestricted 10yr licence now in the post and can drive from mid September.

Regarding the Medical questionnaire, I answered "No" to everything and when asked about my drinking habits, I said I drank 2-3 times a week, up to around 3 pints per session.


I requested my CDT level which was supplied over the phone - I had a reading of 0.9% (Could have been as high as 2.2% and would have still been in the GREEN category). I have also submitted a request in writing asking for a copy of all my medical reports. simply because i'm nosey and want to see what was written about me! But thats it. the ordeal is over and i can now move on with my life. THANK GOD

6) Period of abstinence prior to actual medical Date: 24 Days

7) Drinking habits prior to abstinence period: Bit of a party animal to be honest. Drank most days and rarely had a day off. I would say I would drink anything between 3-4 pints of beer or a bottle of wine at least every other day.

The day before i stoped drinking I attended a work night out. I probably drank around 6 pints/vodka red bull and countless shots/Jager bombs/apple sours.....you name it.....if it was going I was having it. This isnt illegal......Driving after consuming IS!

I know it is human nature to worry (I know I sure as hell did) but I hope this gives some of you some reassurance that prodiving you abstain for a good 3/4 weeks before the medical and are not alcohol dependant and/or misuse it, you will be absolutely fine.

I would also like to thank all the posters in this forum. I have been keeping my eye on this site for almost two years and have found it to be a comfort seing other peoples updates regarding the medical. Now i'm finally in the clear am happy to share my results with you! :)

Al

 
Would just like to share my medical experience !

i took my medical on Tuesday the 2nd of august.

i was very paranoid considering i done a 30 unit binge on the Saturday a 70cl bottle of vodka and 2 pints ,2 days before the medical stupidly.
Previous to this i only drank on a Saturday out with the lads , not really a during the week drinker more of a weekend binger.

the abstinence i had was during the week most weeks as i drink on saturdays only pretty much every week , also within the 4 weeks prior to my medical however i was away on holiday in tenerife so had a big intake , and attended an allday festival the weekend after that which was a allday saturday binge.


I contacted the dvla a week later on the 9th of august they had my results in and said my licence was sent off in the post .

I received my licence in the post today 13th of august !!!!!

i am over the moon with this as i was such an idiot doing a binge so close to my test , safe to say i was ****ting my self for the whole week after thinking id failed miserably. however the results were a shocker i don't know the reading but i passed never the less :) !!



so for anyone who is worrying about their results based on mine i would say you should be pretty fine as long as you werent even dafter than myself.....
 
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I've checked in with this thread a lot since the end of my ban started to feel close, and found it very reassuring, so it's now my turn to contribute.

1) Date you applied for new licence: 30/08/2016
2) Date when you got the letter to book medical: 15/09/2016
3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical: rang same day
4) Date of Medical: 04/10/2016
5) Date of Results and Outcome: Checked the website today, 10/10/2016, and saw that it's been fully restored. I was a bit surprised by the end date at first and was trying to work out why they'd have given me a 6.5 year licence, then I realised it's the original end date of my previous licence. That did come as a surprise to me -- I thought it would be 10 years from the date of renewal. Don't know my actual result yet.


Also Please state:

1) Period of abstinence prior to actual medical: 19 days
2) Drinking habits prior to abstinence period: Drank quite heavily throughout my ban, rarely had a day off. More at weekends, but at least 5 units a day on weekdays.
 
I've checked in with this thread a lot since the end of my ban started to feel close, and found it very reassuring, so it's now my turn to contribute.

1) Date you applied for new licence: 30/08/2016
2) Date when you got the letter to book medical: 15/09/2016
3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical: rang same day
4) Date of Medical: 04/10/2016
5) Date of Results and Outcome: Checked the website today, 10/10/2016, and saw that it's been fully restored. I was a bit surprised by the end date at first and was trying to work out why they'd have given me a 6.5 year licence, then I realised it's the original end date of my previous licence. That did come as a surprise to me -- I thought it would be 10 years from the date of renewal. Don't know my actual result yet.


Also Please state:

1) Period of abstinence prior to actual medical: 19 days
2) Drinking habits prior to abstinence period: Drank quite heavily throughout my ban, rarely had a day off. More at weekends, but at least 5 units a day on weekdays.

Sorry, posted this very quickly before I left work and missed out some pretty important information! I meant to add: in the past couple of months of my ban I got into a healthy eating kick and so had been drinking much less than before. This was closer to the way I drank before I was banned, i.e.: usually more than the recommended 14 units a week for sure, but mostly all in a couple of gos at the weekend, rather than drinking during the week as I had been earlier. So in the couple of months prior to abstaining, I was drinking more like half a bottle of wine on a Wednesday, then maybe 6 units on Friday and Saturday nights (spirits). I'll be interested to know what my reading actually was. At any rate, I feel much better for the abstinence period and now am not going to go back to the level of habitual drinking I was doing during my ban.
 
Hi all

I've followed this site over the last 20 months that I have been banned and found it really helpful, so thought I'd post in the hope that it helps others in the future.

1) Date you applied for new licence: 1 Sept 2016 (I had completed my own D1 form not wanting to rely on the DVLA sending one automatically, however, fair play to them, their form arrived the following day)
2) Date when you got the letter to book medical:
15 September 2016
3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical:
tried calling the nominated doctors daily however "no DVLA appointments had been released" so it was the following Tuesday (20 September) before I got an appointment
4) Date of Medical:
tomorrow!!! Thursday 20 Oct
5) Date of Results and Outcome
:.... to follow


Also Please state:

1) Period of abstinence prior to actual medical Date:
cut down significantly over the last nine weeks and just drank at weekends (sat night, Sun lunch). Last night out was 03.10 which was definitely what is classed as a "binge"(!) so will have had 17 days clear by the time of the test
2) Drinking habits prior to abstinence period:
Bottle of wine a night.. more at weekends. Sounds a lot now but I think it increased over the time I was banned because I knew I wasn't driving anywhere.

So as my user name suggests I am now "at the end" of what has been a horrible 20 months. Yes completely my fault, although we all have our reasons and circumstances for doing it and to be honest the number of people that I have spoken to who have been in the same position but not caught is quite alarming. I can solemnly promise that I will never drink and drive again. I think what has hurt me the most is how my ban has affected others; I was due my punishment, but my children missing out on activities, seeing grandparents etc through my stupid actions of one night is what I am most ashamed about.

Onwards and upwards, fingers crossed for tomorrow and as soon as i get the results through I will report. One of the most confusing things has been the CDT half life figures and length of abstinence - and believe me I have googled! - so we'll see and I pray that my 17 days puts me in the safe zone. I have taken milk thistle and iron supplements; no idea whether they'll make any difference but others on here have recommended it and hey, I have nothing to lose!

Thank you to everyone who posts on this forum.. not only is the information and other peoples experiences useful, but also that feeling that you're not the only person in the world going through this experience. I remember looking at the beginning of the ban and seeing people in my position now and thinking "that's a life time away", but the time does pass, and you learn to adapt (online grocery shopping is a god send!). This is just a blip in life, but these blips are what we learn from.

Good luck to all who are reading this..
 
Hi all

I've followed this site over the last 20 months that I have been banned and found it really helpful, so thought I'd post in the hope that it helps others in the future.

1) Date you applied for new licence: 1 Sept 2016 (I had completed my own D1 form not wanting to rely on the DVLA sending one automatically, however, fair play to them, their form arrived the following day)
2) Date when you got the letter to book medical:
15 September 2016
3) Date when you sent letter back to book medical:
tried calling the nominated doctors daily however "no DVLA appointments had been released" so it was the following Tuesday (20 September) before I got an appointment
4) Date of Medical:
tomorrow!!! Thursday 20 Oct
5) Date of Results and Outcome
:.... to follow


Also Please state:

1) Period of abstinence prior to actual medical Date:
cut down significantly over the last nine weeks and just drank at weekends (sat night, Sun lunch). Last night out was 03.10 which was definitely what is classed as a "binge"(!) so will have had 17 days clear by the time of the test
2) Drinking habits prior to abstinence period:
Bottle of wine a night.. more at weekends. Sounds a lot now but I think it increased over the time I was banned because I knew I wasn't driving anywhere.

So as my user name suggests I am now "at the end" of what has been a horrible 20 months. Yes completely my fault, although we all have our reasons and circumstances for doing it and to be honest the number of people that I have spoken to who have been in the same position but not caught is quite alarming. I can solemnly promise that I will never drink and drive again. I think what has hurt me the most is how my ban has affected others; I was due my punishment, but my children missing out on activities, seeing grandparents etc through my stupid actions of one night is what I am most ashamed about.

Onwards and upwards, fingers crossed for tomorrow and as soon as i get the results through I will report. One of the most confusing things has been the CDT half life figures and length of abstinence - and believe me I have googled! - so we'll see and I pray that my 17 days puts me in the safe zone. I have taken milk thistle and iron supplements; no idea whether they'll make any difference but others on here have recommended it and hey, I have nothing to lose!

Thank you to everyone who posts on this forum.. not only is the information and other peoples experiences useful, but also that feeling that you're not the only person in the world going through this experience. I remember looking at the beginning of the ban and seeing people in my position now and thinking "that's a life time away", but the time does pass, and you learn to adapt (online grocery shopping is a god send!). This is just a blip in life, but these blips are what we learn from.

Good luck to all who are reading this..

Hi all
Thought I'd send a quick update on the medical. £98.50 paid and the appointment took about 30 mins. I was a bit apprehensive however the doctor was lovely and very chatty. He said that he probably had 4-6 hro medical a week.
He basically asked a questionnaire of about 5 pages just on drinking habits, how many units per session etc. No eye test but listen to chest, prodded tum and then took bloods. These go to Kings in London and have to be done within 2-3 days so reckoned I should call the dvla next week for results.
It was so good to get the medical out the way! I'll update on Cdt results as soon as I know them.
 
Hi all..
Just an update on timescales in the hope it helps others..
My medical was on a Thursday. I phoned the DVLA on the Monday and whilst my results were in they wouldn't give them over the phone and advised me to email which I did on the Tuesday.
By Friday I still had no reply so decided to call again. I was told that, again, they couldn't tell me over the phone, except that "the licence is in the post"!!!!
My results arrived the following Friday .. CDT was 0.7%

So, absolutely chuffed! Car purchased, just can't wait to be back on the road! Please keep positive folks.. we have been silly but we learn from our mistakes in life.
 
Hi I'm new to this site & need some help or advise for the medical test

Am I correct in thinking it just the test for CDT or is all test for GGT , MCV , ALT AST as shown below

Also do they contact your doctor for medical records

GGT (Gamma GT) - Gamma-glutamyl transferase
MCV (Mean Cell Volume) - Increased red blood cell size
ALT - Alanine aminotransferase & AST - Aspartarte aminotransferase.
The Secretary of State's Honorary Medical Advisory Panel has now decided that use of the CDT (Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin) biomarker will now be used as the sole test for assessing the harmful use of alcohol for high risk offenders.
 
Hello everyone.

I've been a lurker on here for some time but as I've made tracks in MY story it's time to share.


Banned for 24 months in Jan '15

Lost job, quite a few friends and went into a spiral of depression.

Completed course around Feb which reduced it to 18 months.

Sent off for new licence 12th May.

Received letter with doctor's information on the 25th.

Phoned doctors' surgery (33 miles away from my address) and they only had 13th Jul as the earliest slot so I phoned DVLA straight away and made sure this was OK as it fell out of the 6 week window. They said it was (pheww!)

Now, I had abstained from drinking almost completely for around 6 weeks apart from the odd pint here and there.

13th Jul arrives. Go to doc. We sit there and he fills out the questionnaire while asking me the questions. Nice chap too!

He asks me to take off my top, sit up on the bed thingy and prods me around the middle, checks my arms for strength then I'm asked to lay down where he then checks my legs and feet for strength also.

Next I have to walk in a straight line heel to toe (OK) and then do the eyesight scale (OK)

Top back on, time for the blood test (hate needles!, such a wuss, lol) he takes my blood pressure which he claimed to be 'perfect' so I'm happy.

He siphoned about 5ml of blood out, injected it into the tube to be sent away and there was a smidgeon (1ml) of blood left to which he jokingly asked if I wanted back. That made me laugh! :D

A bit about me....

I'm not exactly what you'd call healthy. I'm male, 34, slightly overweight (used to be quite a bit over) eat crap - pizzas, microwave meals etc and I don't sleep much.

Right, so medical on 13th Jul.
Checked the driving licence website regularly since a few days after and on the 22nd (9 days after the med) my licence has been reinstated with all categories and I expect the actual card will drop through the post either tomorrow or soon after.

Due back on the road Aug.10th
Insurance paid for and MOT done.

Happy Days! :)

G.

Hi how do u check website to c if you have had your licence reinstated
 
So I've just been for my DVLA HRO Medical...Finally!
Filled out and went through with doctor 2 questionnaires. Took blood, blood pressure and did a physical examination.There was no urine test for all those who smoke cannabis and are worried about it! I was with the doctor approx 15 minutes he told me he would send off my bloods and questionnaires today.
Now just to wait for the results and hopefully dvla won't drag their heels sending my license out!
I applied for my license on 13/02/17 and received my letter to book the medical on the 23/02/17.
The surgery I had to attend only do dvla medicals once a month hence the delay but now it's done and can't wait to get back on the road!
After nearly 4 years off the road my license can't come quick enough!
Hope this helps as I struggled to find the answers to the questions I had on here ??
 
Re: Hro medical (your experiences) advice please.

I have a medical in two weeks and did send off a sample to medicare to give me a baseline for CDT. I have had an e-mail today saying the sample was faulty and I need to do a new one so another week to wait. I have been drinking about a bottle of wine a night since by ban but have cut down over the last month. I have 15 days to my medical and am worried about the CDT. Any advice welcome. I really do not want another 6 months.
 
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