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Sick and tired of it
Page 9
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There is cause for concern over how the DVLA deals with LGV drivers who have serious short-term illnesses, as L Radley has discovered.
I caught up with a good friend last Wednesday, having been unable to contact him since before the holiday. It turns out a nasty bout of meningitis had caused him to start fitting. He has now recovered and this incident, while unpleasant, can be forgotten. Except it can't this 40-something ex-Para, healthy as a bowl of bran flakes, has had his licence revoked. The fits were a symptom of the illness, and there is no reason why the should occur again. Yet he has a fight on his hands.
Another friend, in his early 30s this time, developed a very nasty but painless abscess under one of his back teeth. He prodded it one sunny June afternoon and promptly passed out. It took him several months to convince the DVLA that prodding a swollen cheek when you don't know what's causing it can cause a blackout-inducing flash of pain, and that there was absolutely nothing else wrong with him. He too had to figlfor his livelihood.
"A friend developed an ab under one of his back teet prodded it one sunny afte and promptly passed out"
These aren't the only such cases. Every week I hear about another young, healthy driver who is sitting at home watching his life go down the pan thanks to rapid action by the DVLA -which is justifiable-followed by an interminable wait while it decides what to do next-which isn't It's unforgivable.
Yet when I myself was diagnosed with a full-on notifiable condition, one for which there is no cure, I was told to carry on driving as usual while the DVLA thought about it. Every time rang to find out what was going on I was told my case was urgent and a decision would be with me any day.
At that point the DVLA only had my word that I wasn't a danger, based on my consultant telling me to say that but I could have been lying. I'm now on a short-term licence with th LGV bit of it needing yearly renewal. God knows what damagE I'll be able to do over the next few years if the DVLA spends a third of that time taking my word for it.
The standard information the DVLA gives out bears no relation to the f inal outcome, and none of these cases have anything to do with how many bacon butes you eat a week. This surely affects more lives and businesses than many of thE issues on our agenda these days, yet it slips under the radar time and time again. Perhaps someone could put it right?