Driving and the DVLA

[bethtara]

I've just been diagnosed with S.A. and the Doctor said I had to inform the DVLA. Will the DVLA take my licence away??? I'm really stressing as I need my car for work! Any advice gratefully received!

Hi. I am a Clinical Physiologist working in an NHS Hospital. I have around 9 years experience diagnosing and treating obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

If you drive for a living and have severe OSA the DVLA may well revoke your licence until your are compliant with CPAP. Compliance is defined as using the CPAP machine for at least 4 hours/night on average. You should also be free from excessive daytime drowsiness.

If you do not drive for a living and/or you have moderate/mild OSA you will probably be deemed as safe to drive, as long as you don't suffer excessive daytime tiredness. It's really quite unpredictable though. It seems to depend on whose desk your case lands on at the DVLA!

[puffin]

Hi Beth
welcome to the forum, nice to have the input from a OSA professional.

[huwbob]

Hi Puffin,
I don't know where you live but if you are in the UK I can asure you that you can't claim sickness benefit if you are self employed. The NIC that you pay as a self employed person is towards your old age state pension and the NHS

Provided you have paid Class 2 NIC you are able to make a claim for Incapacity Benefit, ring 0800 88 22 00 and they'll go through it with you

[spittree]

First Nite

hi all just to letu all no i picked up my cpap machine up 2day ive only had to wait about 1 month since my sleep test
they said they put me up the list because i drive 4 my job.im en i used 2 ha ha

wen i put the mask on 4 ftting esting i was ok wen i breathed in but breathing out was horribe.the nrse said i just have 2 learn 2 go 2 sleep with my muth closed and i will be fine.anyway will let u all know how i get on 2moz

[Richard]

I was diagnosed with OSA and left hospital in December 2005. I was advised by the consultant that I was required to write to the DVLA and enclose the details of my GP and the diagnosing hospital and tell them (the DVLA) that I had OSA, but it was being addressed.

I was asked to send them my driving-licence. I must say, it took several months before I had my licence returned. May, 2006, in fact.

The reason for the delay, as it was told to me,was that all medical cases are assessed by a specialist panel of medical professionals appointed by the DVLA. This panel meets every month, and if there is not a quorum of medics, then the meeting, and its potential decisions, are held over for the next meeting, a month away. But once the decision is made, that's the end of it.

[anneliz]

Hi Richard

You were unlucky for some reason there, I voluntarily surrendered my licence on the advice of the sleep clinic, that was in august '07 I had the tests and the overnight study and was then given a machine to try out for a week, when I returned that kit I was supplied with the machine I have now. That was nov '07 As soon as that happened I advised the DVLA and they told me they would return my licence, but that I was OK to drive straight away, it arrived back in 2 days. No mention of panels or meetings?

Welcome on board

[Tubadale]

My experiance was I phoned the DVLA after seeing my specialist. I explained my condition etc, DVLA asked me if I was willing to surrender my licence, witch I did.
Upon being given a CPAP machine I re phoned the DVLA to inform them I had started treatment, they said providing a doctor said I was OK to drive then I could drive now and they would send me a medical questionnaire.
I found the DVLA to be very helpful, and I seem to have been sorted out very quickly.
Maybe the direct approach works best.

[jamesbh]

i came out of hospital after an operation being told i had sleep apnea. Went to my doc for a checkup after the op and he said they havent told him and had no record of it. He asked for a sleep clinic appointment and nothing came after 5 months so he then rang up personally and got me one in 2 weeks!

Im being seen at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

[andywales]

This is a real problem

I work as a community nurse and would be absolutely stuck if my driving license was taken away, even for a short while -especially as I live in the middle of nowhere. Reading this forum confirms why I have no faith in the DVLA, as I have seen the inefficient, arbitrary way they work with my own patients, delaying the return of licenses, long after the person is considered fit to drive.

My dilemma is whether to see my GP and hope that I will be "allowed" to keep my license. I feel physically tired fairly often, but not sleepy, however if I were to have investigations which showed I had severe OSA, could the DVLA over rule me and insist that I give up my driving license despite not being sleepy during the day? I'm fairly certain that I have some degree of OSA (my partner is absolutely sure) but I feel that getting referred to a sleep clinic could risk my license. Is there any way round this?

[Tigers Fan]

Footwork

Hi andywales

In my opinion and experience, it's a matter of timing - which may involve buying your own machine. If you can get informing DVLA that you have OSA to coincide with informing them that your therapy is successful, I expect - like me - you wouldn't lose your license.

Waiting for the NHS to provide a machine may make it impossible for the two to coincide, even allowing for the paperwork delays with DVLA (they send a medical questionaire, you fill it out slowly, send it back 2nd Class, they have to assess your answers and inform you of the result, de dah). Buying your own machine makes conincidence easy to achieve - and though you get a new machine, it costs.

I've been waiting three days (so far) for my local hospital to produce a prescription with an upper and a lower pressure so that Respironics feel happy to give me a loan machine while mine is repaired. No one seems willing to take responsibility to write two numbers between 4 and 20 on a Px form so I can get an auto-titrating machine to replace the one I've been using for months!! The clue is in the 'auto', Respiritory Centre!! So how long would it take to get a machine from them???

Tigers Fan

[Tubadale]

I didn't know I had any problems with sleep apnea. Although I did feel tired quite often, I just put that down to needing a good nights sleep.
I was sent for the sleep test as I am due to go for surgery latter this year. After test was put on Cpap machine.
It really has changed my life, but the thing that has really got to me is how long I drove etc and on reflection should not have been behind the wheel of a car as I really was not fit to drive. I could have killed myself or worse someone else.
If you think you my have S/A go get it sorted, you life must be worth more than your driving licence.

Dale

[bethtara]

I work as a community nurse and would be absolutely stuck if my driving license was taken away, even for a short while -especially as I live in the middle of nowhere. Reading this forum confirms why I have no faith in the DVLA, as I have seen the inefficient, arbitrary way they work with my own patients, delaying the return of licenses, long after the person is considered fit to drive.

My dilemma is whether to see my GP and hope that I will be "allowed" to keep my license. I feel physically tired fairly often, but not sleepy, however if I were to have investigations which showed I had severe OSA, could the DVLA over rule me and insist that I give up my driving license despite not being sleepy during the day? I'm fairly certain that I have some degree of OSA (my partner is absolutely sure) but I feel that getting referred to a sleep clinic could risk my license. Is there any way round this?

If you were diagnosed with OSA, and if your Consultant didn't tell you to stop driving, you could continue to drive as long as you don't feel sleepy or tired whilst doing so. That is exactly what we say to patients at my Hospital.

You could fill out and send off your DVLA declaration form once you're compliant with CPAP treatment. (This is ok as long as you don't take ages to become compliant!) This is ok at my Hospital because our waiting list is approx. 2 weeks to start CPAP. People who drive for a living are given priority too. The DVLA and the sleep Consultants at my Hospital regard being compliant with CPAP as using it for at least 4 hours/night on average. Then you shouldn't have your license revoked. Once your Consultant can report back to the DVLA that you're compliant with CPAP, you're deemed safe to drive by the DVLA.

It would be madness to stick your head in the sand about this. As I'm sure you're aware, OSA can reduce a person's life expectancy if left untreated due to the strain it puts on the cardiovascular system.

[andywales]

Now I'm convinced

Thanks for those replies - I have ordered one of the strips to wear for a night to get some idea of the severity and to take with me when I see my GP. I've already filled out some of the questionaires.

Interestingly, I have taken zopiclone (non benzodiazepine sleeping tablet) for several years and one of the reasons I think it helped me was by enabling me to get back to sleep after I woke up and when I try to stop taking it the apnoea wakes me up and I can't easily get back to sleep. I always assumed it was rebound insomnia and would try to grit my teeth, determined to stick it out, only to feel so terrible that I decided that zopiclone dependancy was preferable to 3 or 4 hours sleep at night, impossible if you've a demanding job (or even if you haven't). Now I also understand why other sleeping tablets (temazepam etc) seemed to make my breathing worse at night (according to my partner) as they are muscle relaxants. They were originally prescribed for sleep paralysis which used to scare me to death, but I gradually learnt to relax and not panic when I experienced it, until about five years ago when the sleep paralysis changed. Instead of not being able to move (apart from my hand) and unpleasant hallucinations (which I learnt not to fear) I also began to feel as though I were choking and instead of drifting back to sleep for a few minutes and waking normally, I would suddenly wake up gasping for breath. I put this down to anxiety and tried to control it myself with various psychological techniques (CBT etc) but it persisted and my GP suggested zopiclone. The sleep paralysis is gone, but I am hoping if I do have OSA that the treatment will enable me to get off the zimovane and who knows, if the OSA is controlled I could mange the sleep paralysis, as long as I'm not having the apnoea at the same time (a horrible combination).
I'll let you know how it goes!

[DILLIGAT]

As Anneliz and Tubadale mention above you can voluntarily surrender your licence. This has 3 advantages
1. You inform the DVLA that as a responsible driver it has been suggested that you don't drive due to a medical condition. They send you a form which you sign and send it back with your licence, No medical review. Then when your condition is controlled your doctor gets a letter from the clinic you contact the DVLA and send tell them you want your licence back, you send the form to them with a letter from your GP and get your licence back, agai no medical panel review.
2. This process is a lot quicke than waiting for the DVLA "monthly" medical panels.
3. When you renew your car insurance and they ask "Have you had your licence revoked or conditions imposed?" you can say No as they haven't as you've voluntarily surrendered your licence and there hasn't been a medical review.

This is what was explained to me when I phoned the DVLA and got a friendly person and they were spot on

[Cardoctor]

dvla

Hi all
this has got me a little worried, I live in a very rural place & have to travel 20 miles to work, if you are having treatment and are compliant with no signs of tiredness day or night do i have to inform the dvla, nothing has been said at my clinic. I was a borderline case for starting on the cpap treatment they said it would do me good in the future.
regards Jim