My three year medical renewal of my driving licence is taking a long time. I am medically stable and able to drive. DVLA have not responded at all even though I know they have received the renewal application. I am assuming this is down to the pandemic and union disputes within DVLA. Is anyone else experiencing this?
My renewal took some time. I applied on the 56 day mark but after a wait got a call from the DVLA and was renewed about 3 weeks before the date. The lady woh called was really helpful and asked me 3 questions which had to be answered yes or no before confirming my renewal. I wouldn’t worry as the Road Traffic Act section 88, from memory, says that if your application is with them, but delayed you are OK to drive.
My renewal also took an extraordinary amount of time and I was (as you will be) able to continue to drive under Sec 88 of the Road Traffic Act.
This covers you to drive as long as you continue to remain fit to drive and your application for a renewal is with the DVLA.
My renewal took so long that it was in fact over 12months from when my old one expired to my new one being supplied. Because over 12 months had gone by I was required to redo my forms for renewal.
The DVLA form with all the info is INF188/6. If you search for this in your preferred search engine the first couple of links from Gov.uk will give you all the info.
Thanks for this info.
I’ve only just been diagnosed and sent my form to the dvla at the end of august and still haven’t heard back from them.
Hi
Don’t hold your breath waiting for a reply, renewals always take an age. The quickest renewal I’ve had was 3 months, the longest a whopping 12, though that’s because my neuro gave them some wrong info. Average time mine takes is probably 5 months…
Dan
A slightly different situation. My current 3 year licence expires early Jan 2022. With my previous renewals I have been sent renewal forms some 3 months prior to expiry, but this time I have not received anything. From what I can see the renewal process is in meltdown and you can’t download any forms or make contact on line plus phone calls go unanswered. Anybody else in the same boat who has been able to get any official answer to the problem?
DVLA are extremely behind and as Medical Reviews cannot be processed online that makes licence renewal much slower! In my particular case only heard from DVLA five months into the Section 88 Notice period and that was just to say they had written to my GP for confirmation of my condition, so still some way to go before licence is renewed. To cut it short I think a lot of patience is required. A long the way I resorted to contacting my MP and emailling the chief executive of DVLA to complain and speaking to Motability to advise them that this was becoming a problem.
It took 9 months for my 3 year medical licence to be renewed.
You can still drive under the section 88 rule whilst waiting for your licence to be returned.
Thanks for explaining your situation. I too have written to my MP and her staff are looking into my situation. There must be a large number of people requiring medical assessment to drive and who are finding the current situation extremely stressful. I know that my next problem will be trying to get a GP to do the assessment. 3 years ago it took me 6 weeks of getting more and more annoyed before one of my GP’s agreed to do it. I had explained my problem to the DVLA and they did though offer to put me in touch with another doctor if necessary. The joys of being diagnosed with MS!!
After considerable googling I have found that you can download the medical form for MS licence renewal. Why the main DVLA website appears to suggest that you can’t is beyond me! Here is the link should anybody need it.
https://www.driving-medical-condition.service.gov.uk/exit/multiple-conditions-detected
Jayelle,
Thanks for this info
Bon courage!
I started trying to get the forms, finally received them and sent them off in Feb, got my license returned yesterday! For 5 years!