Very confused about drink driving medical

Convicted Driver Insurance

99ariyaratnamj

New Member
Hi i wanted a bit of advice about the renewal of my licence after disqualification for drink driving. I was convicted on the 10/02/2009 my breath reading i was told was 95. I received a £300 fine and 28 month ban and a referal to the drink drivers rehab course to have my ban reduced to 21 months. I completed this course this time last year and I was told that when i reapply I would have to have a medical to get my licence back. I applied for my licence 2 weeks ago and it has already come through with the correct start date but no information about the medical. When i sent in the application I sent a copy of the rehab course completion certificate, the d1 form and even a cover note explaining about having to do the medical. I phoned the dvla today to check and they said the court hadn't given them a reading or the court didn't have the reading in the records or something so they treated it like a normal application (ie assuming the reading was under 87.5). They said they would contact the court and get back to my asap as to what to do with the licence and whether i have to have the medical. Does this mean it is likely I wont have to do the medical?
If you could let me know what you reckon will happen it will be appreciated because my life is on hold atm not knowing.
 
Hi i wanted a bit of advice about the renewal of my licence after disqualification for drink driving. I was convicted on the 10/02/2009 my breath reading i was told was 95. I received a £300 fine and 28 month ban and a referal to the drink drivers rehab course to have my ban reduced to 21 months. I completed this course this time last year and I was told that when i reapply I would have to have a medical to get my licence back. I applied for my licence 2 weeks ago and it has already come through with the correct start date but no information about the medical. When i sent in the application I sent a copy of the rehab course completion certificate, the d1 form and even a cover note explaining about having to do the medical. I phoned the dvla today to check and they said the court hadn't given them a reading or the court didn't have the reading in the records or something so they treated it like a normal application (ie assuming the reading was under 87.5). They said they would contact the court and get back to my asap as to what to do with the licence and whether i have to have the medical. Does this mean it is likely I wont have to do the medical?
If you could let me know what you reckon will happen it will be appreciated because my life is on hold atm not knowing.

It is impossible to predict whether you will have to go for a medical or not. The DVLA seem to be a law unto themselves at times. If the DVLA obtain records of your blood alcohol level being 95 this will mean you should be classed as a 'high risk offender' and should not be issued a full driving licence until you have taken a DVLA medical.

Having said that, there has been other people who post on these forums that have said they had blood alcohol levels above the threshold needed to categorize them as 'high risk offenders' yet despite this fact, have been issued a full driving licence by the DVLA without ever taking a medical. I can only assume that these occurences are down to clerical/procedural errors.

It would be interesting to know the outcome of your situation, keep us updated.
 
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I agree with the comments of the moderator. You would need to clarify the situation with the DVLA. However, the reading alone would ordinarily make you a high risk offender under the DVLA's own guidelines. In this respect whether the offence is drink driving or failing ot provide is irrelevant. Notwithstanding this I would recommend that you get to the bottom of which offence is recorded on the DVLA's records as clearly a failing to provide should not be endorsed on your driving record. Failing to provide is generally treated more seriously than drink driving.

If you wanted to look at the DVLA's own guidelines about the High Risk Offender Scheme please see this link: http://www.dft.gov.uk/think_media/241033/241066/publications_highrisk.pdf
 
Failing to provide is generally treated more seriously than drink driving.


Can you please explain to me why? In realistic terms.

Why someone who has a roadside of 61, and partial readings of 48- 66 but can't complete the test, is more dangerous than someone who has a positive reading of 95?

I'm not saying I'm any less culpable, far from it, but why will I HAVE to pay for a medical, when someone else who was proved to be twice the limit not have to?

99ariyaratnamj- I'm certainly not having a pop at you, or indeed anyone in any similar circumstance, and I sincerely hope you don't have to have a medical (from what you've said, I don't think you do, if you can find your original DVLA disqualification letter it will tell you whether you are HRO01 or HRO02, if you are HRO01 you won't have to undergo a medical, I believe...)


I do have to reiterate that the failing charge is ****. Really. I'm becoming almost obsessive about it. (Have you noticed?)
 
Hi i wanted a bit of advice about the renewal of my licence after disqualification for drink driving. I was convicted on the 10/02/2009 my breath reading i was told was 95. I received a £300 fine and 28 month ban and a referal to the drink drivers rehab course to have my ban reduced to 21 months. I completed this course this time last year and I was told that when i reapply I would have to have a medical to get my licence back. I applied for my licence 2 weeks ago and it has already come through with the correct start date but no information about the medical. When i sent in the application I sent a copy of the rehab course completion certificate, the d1 form and even a cover note explaining about having to do the medical. I phoned the dvla today to check and they said the court hadn't given them a reading or the court didn't have the reading in the records or something so they treated it like a normal application (ie assuming the reading was under 87.5). They said they would contact the court and get back to my asap as to what to do with the licence and whether i have to have the medical. Does this mean it is likely I wont have to do the medical?
If you could let me know what you reckon will happen it will be appreciated because my life is on hold atm not knowing.
heya i would of thought you would'n need 1 but i would not of rung them as you have your licence,you would of had a medical before you had your licence!good luck;)
 
Failing to provide is generally treated more seriously than drink driving.
Can you please explain to me why? In realistic terms.

Presumably to prevent people simply refusing to give a breath test when they know they are over the limit. For it to be a real deterrent, the punishment has to be at least as harsh than the drink driving one they are trying to avoid.

However, it does end up being unfair on people who are genuinely unable to complete the test.
 
Failing to provide is generally treated more seriously than drink driving.


Presumably to prevent people simply refusing to give a breath test when they know they are over the limit. For it to be a real deterrent, the punishment has to be at least as harsh than the drink driving one they are trying to avoid.

However, it does end up being unfair on people who are genuinely unable to complete the test.

I can entirely appreciate that, but there's lots of factors that don't make any sense to me.

If you know about the failing charge, you wouldn't do it. If you didn't know about the failing charge, you still wouldn't do it, as in my reasoning, I thought I'd be convicted on my original reading, and I'd lost my only chance to prove I wasn't over the limit..

At the risk of being controversial, I would like to know why some people that have posted on this forum have said that they refused 'out of stubborness'. Seriously, and in a non judgemental way, why??
 
Just to keep you updated, I rang DVLA today, to see if they'd received my application, which they have.

I asked if they could send me a cover note to drive, they said they could, but they have to wait until they've opened a medical file for me, fine, I accept that. But that could take another two weeks, at which point the gent I spoke to reliably and persistantly told me that according to some law or other, because my application is on their system, I am legally allowed to drive, and, in the unfortunate event that I am stopped by Police, as long as I can give them my licence number, they can check with DVLA and I am categorically not breaking the law.

Yes, I still have to have a medical and I'd rather have the paperwork, but if that's from the horses mouth, so to speak, I am as happy as a pig in the proverbial.

People waiting and waiting, you will keep waiting and waiting. You have to speak to someone. My heart is so much lighter right now, and I could have been waiting for weeks and weeks.

Ring them! We've learned our lessons, let's drive.
 
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