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Sleep Apnoea Forum Bringing Help + Support to the Patient
Getting driving licence back from the DVLA. How long, etc.
Hello,
I am a newbie here having been referred by Tez62 of the http://www.apneaboard.com/forums
I have had my driving licence taken away by the DVLA and started using an APAP machine on Monday 2nd December 2013 four days ago.
Results from the SD card records looked promising after Wednesday and Thursday night sleep and the NHS have said that I may take in the SD card to them 2 weeks after starting with the APAP machine, i.e. on 16 December 2013.
As soon as I learn from the NHS that my OSA syndrome is controlled I will reapply for my driving licence.
How long may it take before the DVLA restores my licence to drive?
What are members' experiences in this issue please?
Views: 2663
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kath Hope on
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Sorry to hear you've had your licence taken from you. I always advise people to immediately stop driving but not to inform DVLA until you're on good treatment. No worries though as once your clinic confirm you're on successful therapy (which sounds like you are) then you just have to fill in the forms and DVLA will contact your clinic to confirm all this and you'll get your licence back. Here's a link to the SL1 form Michael https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_dat...
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Permalink Reply by Michael Eacott on
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Oops my mistake.
Thank you Kath especially for the SL1 form,
I did somewhat jump the gun in informing the DVLA before I started treatment.
Live and learn.
Mike
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Hmm. Clearly a newbie in using this forum's features!!!
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Lol...don't worry I get myself confused on the forum too
I was actually off the road for about 10 months because back then it took ages from diagnosis to treatment + then I had lots of struggles getting my CPAP therapy compliant (which thankfully isn't the case for you). You can read my brief story over on the main website http://www.hope2sleep.co.uk/page/my-story
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Permalink Reply by Terry Vella on
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Kath, I was the one that suggest Michael join this forum for some local knowledge and I remeber some of the othe guys losing their licence and getting it back after treatment. In Australia, we just don't tell the DVLA or equilivent body. I think they are bringing in new rules to test the elderly but basically you can drive till you die. I gave Micheal some tips like mask liners and having the hose coming from above his head, he may have some other questions as well.
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Terry,
As you may have read I foolishly jumped the gun in informing the DVLA before my treatment started.
I do believe that the UK DVLA "goes by the book" (or is that a CYA) and takes an uncompromising position on the issue of people driving who have been diagnosed with OSAS.
Perhaps because the UK is a crowded island where many roads are in or go through villages, towns and cities, shared by other road or roadside users such as cyclists and pedestrians, the rules of the road are more restrictiveand penalties for non-compliance more severe than those in wide open spaces found in parts of Australia and North America.
Also the availability of public transport is relatively widespread in the UK although some rural services have been reduced or cut on economic grounds leaving people who do not own private vehicles partially isolated.
I believe that the DVLA will want me to pay £20 so that I can get my licence to drive back. Maybe that is why they required me to send them my licences. However I view the process of surrender and reapply a bureaucratic waste and nonsense. Where have I heard "rip off Britain" before?
My best night thus far as shown by the software (see below) was on Thursday where the S9 was positioned on my bedroom floor, the air tube not over my head and with me forced to sleep on my left side by the towel packed back pack. I will repeat that arrangement tonight.
Mike
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Sleep information.
Summary Statistics
Total Usage 5.59
Apnea index: 0.6 (Obstructive 0.0, Central 0.5, Unknown 0.0)
Hypopnea: 2.9
AHI: 3.5
Leak: Median 3.6, 95th percentile 6.0, Maximum 7.2
Pressure: Median 6.6, 95th percentile 8.0, Maximum 9.6
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Mike, the DVLA started taking things very seriously after the Selby Crash when that guy caused the train crash through being sleep-deprived. It all depends who people speak to at the DVLA though as to what they're told to do. The important thing is that people stop driving though until on treatment, but the UK needs to be quicker at giving the treatment from diagnosis. Some clinics can sort it in days, yet some take months.
Those are good results you've posted + hope you're starting to feel better in yourself by now.
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Did you mean to leave a reply Michael, as there's nothing there?
Michael Eacott said:
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Kath,
I remember that tragedy. However I understand that Gary Hart admitted that he had stayed up all night speaking on the telephone to a woman friend he had just met on the internet. So that tragedy was nothing to do with sleep apnoea.
In my case my "liability to inappropriate drowsiness" has been when reading or watching TV. I have never dozed at the wheel in the last 19 years since early retirement and have always given due care and attention to my driving.
My defensive driving comes from the time when I used to ride a motorbike where driving defensively was and continues to be essential especially on today's roads where so many road users including car and some goods vehicle drivers do not take that due care and attention.
I also attended and completed a driver safety programme in the 90's as part of the requirements to be allocated a company car when I was an employee. The road analysis by the instructor stated that I was a very competent, safe and thoughtful driver. There were just two comments about extra attention required: use of brakes and use of gearbox. I discussed that with him and he accepted that as a long term motorcycle rider I had continued to use the motorcycle riding techniques of the time when their brakes were not as good as today and speed control was more reliant on using engine braking by being in an appropriate gear at all times. During the programme I corrected the above techniques for car driving.
So my essential complaint about the DVLA was their insistence that I send them the two parts of my driving license especially as it would have been irresponsible and an offence for me to drive once the DVLA had written to me to state that my licence to drive had been revoked.
Perhaps letting me keep my driving licenses and writing to me to reinstate my permission to drive once control of my "liability to inappropriate drowsiness" has been achieved is beyond the DVLA's capability.
Thanks for you good wishes. (No OSAs last night, just two 12 second Centrals. Looking promising)
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I hear you loud and clear Michael
Whilst the Selby crash wasn't tiredness due to sleep apnoea it spurred the DVLA into how devastating driving when tired can be. Driving when feeling physically ill is just the same, and my own family were victims of a tragedy in this respect when my Grandma was killed by a driver whose wife had begged him to take the bus when he'd felt ill (he had a blackout at the wheel). Incidentally, we've discussed accidents involving sleepy drivers before + here's one of them http://hope2sleepguide.co.uk/forum/topics/more-lives-lost-through?i...A better way forward would be written instructions banning driving until treated, followed by written confirmation, like you suggest, stating driving can be resumed. Even better would be instant issue of CPAP on diagnosis!
Sounds like you'll be back on the road real soon with good treatment you're getting
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