Do you have to tell the DVLA you have MS/use wheelchair?

Everyday living
1

As a wheelchair user my car is very important, but i never realised you can or need to tell the DVLA,

I have hand controls in my motability car, which i operate fine with

i am also slightly short sighted but with glasses my vision is 0.5 = legal

but that was last year so not sure if its changed, and i had an eye test at a at home visit optician and my vision was worse than when i was assessed at the opthamalogist clinic.

so i fear that as the DVLA say:

"DVLA aims to make a decision within 3 weeks. However, if more information is needed about your medical condition it could take up to 90 working days, as DVLA might:

  • contact your doctor or consultant
  • arrange for you to be examined
  • ask you to take a driving assessment, or an eyesight or driving test"

i remember how hard driving tests were so am not confident i would pass to test standard, well without a few lessons first

and i dont know how my eyes would be, it would depend on the time of day

saying that, my vision is fine for viewing the road/cars/people, just difficult reading numberplates from far

so i had planned to not renew my motability car in a few months and was going to buy a used car - reliable one 6-7 years old with 1 previous owner + full service history

but i now realise to get insurance i have to select disabled - DVLA not aware, which makes insurance higher

or i inform DVLA but may get refused or restrictions which will probably increase my insurance price

Or i could just remnew with motability, as they havent asked any questions about the DVLA

Any thoughts?

thank you

2

It is a legal requirement to inform the DVLA of an MS diagnosis - insurance is basically invalid if you don’t and you could get into a lot of trouble. I would notify them ASAP and apologise for the oversight. Assuming you are allowed to keep your licence (and they do try to support you as long as it’s not a safety issue), your insurance CANNOT be increased. If the DVLA say you’re fit to drive, the insurance company can’t do anything about it! I don’t have a ‘disability’ technically and still drive my own car. The DVLA wrote to my GP and consultant and then put me on a three year renewable licence. It took about 4 months but I was allowed to drive in the meantime. If your optician and consultant are happy with you driving, it’s highly unlikely that the DVLA would disagree. X

3

Hi Anon Not sure exactly what your question is. MS - you have to tell DVLA. They will contact your neuro to ask opinion on ability to drive. If OK will get 3 year licence. Disability shouldn’t increase your insurance. Not sure about mobility factor and eyes shouldn’t be a problem if you can pass the eyesight test OK. Hope this helps Min xx

4

Agree with Min you have to tell dvla. You should tell your insurance company and it should not affect the premiums. If you withhold information and have an accident they may well decide that you did not disclose relevant information and refuse the claim. Just not worth risking. If you phone the insurance company make sure you follow it up with a letter of confirmation so that you have a copy should they query or deny you disclosed your health situation.

5

As the others say you must inform the DVLA if you have MS, or if found out you could be fined £1000 and prosecuted. I notified the DVLA on 10 January when I was diagnosed and I just received 2 letters from them today. One was a letter saying they had written to my neurologist and he had 6 weeks to respond, and the other was a further medical questionnaire to complete and return.

6

Just write a brief letter now to tell them, send it recorded delivery so you have proof. They’ll take it from there. Dont mention the fact you haven’t told them previously. I’m sure this happens all the time. You’ll be fine to drive in the meantime" Cheryl:-)

7

Oh dear, I hadn’t realised this - I was diagnosed just coming up to a year ago and none of the medical people had mentioned this, and I never thought to check… Does anyone know if there’s a time limit on when you have to disclose? I can get the form filled in and sent off this weekend, but since you have to state a diagnosis date it’ll show I didn’t do it straight away…

8

Hi anon

To be honest I wouldn’t worry about the fact you didn’t telly them right away. You won’t be the first person who didn’t realise it was a requirement, so it will have happened plenty of times before. Just declare everything they ask for as honestly as you can and you should be fine. I use a wheelchair & need hand controls to drive and it’s never been a problem with the DVLA, I just have the standard 3 year licence.

I just have to say though, the claim by the DVLA that it may take up to 90 days made me smile. From most people’s experience,I think it takes 90 working days at a minimum. I think the longest they took with me was 9 months, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a reply from them in less than 6 months, bless 'em!

Dan

9

Thanks for your reply Dan :slight_smile:

10

You are also supposed to disclose double vision, which I have had for 20 years (lazy eye nothing to do with MS) and I didn’t realised I was supposed to tell them either. I have had 4 different opticians in this time, and even seen Moorfields, but no one told me either. I’m sure we are not the only ones who have not disclosed things. If the DVLA write to my optician they will find this out, so I hope they are sympathetic!

11

Yes, you have to inform the DVLA.

In fact if you look at the increasing list of notifiable conditions there must be very few drivers who are not having to inform them of something! There must be a lot of drivers who have conditions that should be notifiable but they are unaware of that. (I have another condition that has only just appeared on the ‘Notifiable List’)

When I renewed my insurance no questions were asked about any health issues. However I asked him to make a note that I had m.s. - I assume he did that.

Other insurance companies may ask direct questions about medical conditions - different companies have different policies on this.

Your premium can not be raised because of a medical condition.

12

thanks for the replies, looks i will have to inform the DVLA that i have MS an use a wheelchair, hnd controls and my vision is 0.5 with glasses

has any MS patients with symptoms like mine told the DVLA and had to resit their driving test?

or was it just a letter they sent your GP/ Neuro and thats it?

is it possible with my symptoms to just keep my full driving license? or is it guaranteed i will only have it for 1-3 years, if so, after the 1-3 years do i go to an assessment?

13

I don’t have the same symptoms as you (expect eyesight) , but as far as I’m aware they just write to your consultant and GP and assess things that way. The three year driving licence is just so they review your notes again - and you can continue to drive in the meantime unless your dr says otherwise. I’ve never actually heard of anyone sitting a test. But even if they asked for one, I doubt it would be a full driving test. More an assessment of whether you are safe. I think it’s standard for anyone with MS (however mild) to be issued with a maximum of three years for a licence so don’t look at it as a bad thing. At the end of the day they’d only refuse a licence if you were considered unsafe - and would you really want to be putting yours and other people’s lives at risk anyway? I would imagine if your consultant is happy, they’d take their word for it. Eyesight is only a problem if it isn’t corrected with glasses. My last relapse caused double and blurred vision, but I had it corrected with prism lenses and the opticians said I was legal to drive after that.

14

12 months after notifying dvla with diagnosis I was sent to a local test centre and was assessed for approximately 1 hour. The dvla re-isssued my license for 3 years.they also remove mini bus and 7.5 ton entitlement, as I drove a bus for a local charity I rang them and was told I would have to apply to a court to re-instate it. Peter

15

when you say consultant do you mean neurologist?

i saw my neuro early last year and think i mentioned my reading visionwas sometimes poor, but have glasses nowwhich correct it to 0.5

so will i need to go in for testing based on this?

my MS doesnt affect my upper body so im hoping i dont have a driving test

  • i knowsome said not to worry, but as i was diagnosed over 10 years ago, and now im telling the DVLA, could it cause me more problems by now disclosing?

when some say you write to the DVLA informing them, do you mean sending this form off?:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/222523/dg_073745.pdf

it asks for details on relapses but i only ever had one,. before diagnosis 10 years ago, and since then just progressed (but have taken L;DN since 08’ which stopped the progression)

so i am Secondary progressive, but my original diagnosis was RRMS and despite me saying i only had one relapse they havent changed me to SPMS, so its a bit tricky filling the form in

16

I informed dvla of ms. It did take some time and my dr helped fill it in. Lots of things are off my licence as to what I can drive but I got my licence 25 years ago. When I looked on my sons licence it doesn’t include all the things that my original licence listed. I have a 3 year licence now and insurance didn’t go up. Lynn

17

Hi, you could fill in that form, you will certainly need to do so, or for now you could just write a brief letter, they will get back to you and tell you to fill in the form. Up to you for now, but do something sooner rather than later. If you were diagnosed RR by a neurologist , then that is what you need to put down. No need to go into technicalities of Secondary progressive, your neurologist can do so if he/she wishes when dvla write to them. Just fill the form in with info you were told by a neurologist. Personally, I’d keep it as brief as possible, I’d put the correct dates but I wouldn’t mention why I hadn’t told them earlier. You didn’t know you had to, quite legitimate reason. Cheryl:-)