Hello all
So when I was waiting for my license, I was hooked on this thread so I thought I would share my experience for anyone constantly checking for updates as I was.
I was banned in 2017 for a second offence, I wont bore you with the details, my life was different then.
I applied for my license around December 2019.
I got a letter to book my medical about 3-4 weeks later, I booked it for mid February, before coronavirus, I stopped drinking from new years day, it had only been 6 weeks since my last drink with one blip so I was nervous as I had been checking this forum and lots of online info and was worried that one instance would ruin my chances.
I'm not an alcoholic, I have a glass of wine with dinner and stopping drinking for this test was much easier than I thought it would be because I had a goal I was reaching for.
I bought alcohol free wine from marks and Spencer and 0% Heineken, it helped me to not drink when I was so stressed from work and worrying about this test. Its OK to be an adult and want a drink when you've had a stressful week, there is a lot of scaremongering on this forum as well as support, and it doesn't make you an alcoholic to use a drink at the end of the week to relax.
Anyway, my test was cancelled when I turned up, the doctor was sick, not because of coronavirus, and I had booked the morning off work and arranged a lift there, they hadn't contacted me to tell me it was cancelled and they were very rude, I was devastated to be honest.
I called the dvla and they said they would send me a letter with another doctor to attend, 25 miles away.
It took a week to get the letter and I managed to get an appointment for mid march, my partner had to take the day off to take me this doctor out in the sticks and it was the week before lock down.
When I turned up there, the doctor was nice but had clearly not done many medicals.
I was honest about my drinking, when he asked had I drank over 6 units in one session, I said yes as I had at Christmas, the rest of the questions were a no.
This is where I reference the scaremongering on this site, I have seen several posts mentioning how if you admit this, your licensw will be automatically declined. That's completely not true.
Anyway, for people worrying about being abstinent from alcohol, I drank a bottle of wine on 1st Feb while out for a friend's 30th, (blip previously mentioned) and I drank 2 weeks before the test, again around a bottle of wine, my result was 1.2.
I also took a medichecks test on 31st Jan, my result was 0.9. So if you're looking at other people's posts and worrying because you slipped up, please don't.
I got my licence back 1st May, it was a long wait between the medical.and the decision but please don't panic. Keep chasing them, I'm not sure what the status is right now with coronavirus and medicals, but I'm a key worker so I kept chasing via email.
Good luck everyone