When driving home in the early hours I fainted at the wheel of my truck while in transit, no one was hurt including myself and no other vehicles were involved .The impact was of slow speed and of minimal damage.
There was warning signs as I began to feel unwell and lightheaded and was about to pull over when it happened. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me in my life before and have been driving professionally 22 years, in total shock over the whole episode. But the weeks leading upto this had been working long hours and had alot of personal stress going on, a family member was dealing with cancer among other stuff.
Was taken to hospital and had bloods taken, Xray of the chest, ct scan and also wired upto the heart monitor for 12 hours all came back clear. Got more test to been carried out by a cardiologist to rule anything out sinister.
According to the government website on scycope if nothing is found and its put down to a simple fait due to stress, fatigue ect while sitting and all test are clear ban will be 4 weeks for car and 3 months for professional entitlement.
Anyone else had this happen to them? Also will the dvla come down harder as it happened in transit as I cannot find any evidence to support this, all it says is if the episode happened standing or sitting.
Any help on this or advice would be much appreciated as at this point have no idea how were going to survive with no money coming in.
Whilst your concern is your bank balance, my concern is the safety of any person who would be unfortunate enough to be on the same stretch of road as you are.
IMO your licence should be revoked until such time as a medical professional can guarantee 100% that you won’t suffer another “episode”!
The safety of others is also my concern that’s why I surrendered my licence straight away and want every test done to make sure I’m fit and well. 20% of the population will faint once in there life time we cant choose when this happens. But please dont think I’m putting money before the safety of others
You have done the right thing by informing the DVLA medical section , failure to tell them is a £1000 fine , their medical section is a law on to themselves , not sure how their own Doctors are chosen , loosing the HGV for your time period is not too bad and quite short , communication between your Doctor and the DVLA is very slow , they will not divulge information over the phone .
For financial help , maybe check the Government website for Universal Credit , they offer loans which come out of the benefits , contact the electricity and water company to ask for a reduced bill or later payment options , the same for council tax .
Worst case scenario is a food bank , i wish you luck . Be careful what you tell DVLA over the phone , as what you tell them is set in stone .
Grumpy_old_trucker:
Whilst your concern is your bank balance, my concern is the safety of any person who would be unfortunate enough to be on the same stretch of road as you are.
IMO your licence should be revoked until such time as a medical professional can guarantee 100% that you won’t suffer another “episode”!
Theres no 100% guarantee that anybody will not have a medical event, even those without any history of anything. Theres always a first time, I guess it’s just luck if the draw when it happens.
Dan, I can sense your frustration. Ignore the ■■■■■■■■ written above. In the first instance, I would purchase a blood pressure monitor (assuming you don’t already have one), and take a reading at various times through the day, and try and ascertain when it reaches its lowest point. If there is no dangerous low point and this was a truly one off event, could the thoughts of cancer in the family be so traumatic that the emotional stress altered the vagal tone? Only you could know that. Do you hold your breath in stressful situations? Consider that too. Good luck in getting through this.
If you have a mortgage, is there any clause in it that would allow you to take a payment holiday? Some mortgages do. If you have concerns, I’d certainly look at speaking with your mortgage provider sooner rather than later.
Although you cant drive, does this prevent you doing any other work? Warehouse and factory work may not be great but for 3 months most of us can stick a bad job out.
In the meantime try and find ways of relaxing, even 10 minutes of meditation should help, plenty of free apps, go for a walk in a local park or the country if you can and breathe deeply. It really all does help.
Well I certainly can sympathise with you mate, I had the same thing last year. I collapsed in the yard before going home and knocked myself out on the concrete it was diagnosed as a vasovagal syncope and I had concussion for a month and a half. It was a complete nightmare. NHS waiting list was about 2 and a half months to see a cardiologist, luckily I had family that learnt me the money to go private but at £300 just for a consultation it ain’t cheap! The DVLA medical department were always polite and sympathetic when ever I phoned them but the whole process is frustratingly slow. It took me 5 months to get the all clear to return to work. I received statutory sick pay and was also able to claim universal credit between them both I could pay my rent and basic food on the table. If you have any loans or credit cards inform them straight away I did with mine and they suspended the account that took alot of pressure off in itself. I hope your feeling well and have a speedy recovery and return to work alot quicker than I did.
I once blacked out behind the wheel whilst working on Gatwick Airport. I had my licence temporarily revoked by DVLA whilst they did medical tests. DVLA told me it could be 6 months before I would be assesed by a doctor!!
On the day of fainting I had been ill nd had a bad ear infection. Sitting in the hot sun waiting to load is what tipped me over the edge.
Anyhow I couldnt finacially hold out for 6 months so I spoke to my GP about the options open to me.
I was advised to see a cardiovascular surgeon privatley to speed up my case. I went to my local private hospital and explained what had happened. He put me on a 72 hour heart monitor that very day. After the 3 days on the monitor and some other tests he anyalised the results and declared me fit as a fiddle. He wrote a letter to DVLA and gave them the results and explained that the blackout was caused by illness and heat exhaustion.
1 week later I had my licence back and the green light from DVLA.
This private treatment only cost me £96!!! The best £96 I have ever spent.
So my advice to you is go private to speed up the process.
msgyorkie:
I once blacked out behind the wheel whilst working on Gatwick Airport. I had my licence temporarily revoked by DVLA whilst they did medical tests. DVLA told me it could be 6 months before I would be assesed by a doctor!!
On the day of fainting I had been ill nd had a bad ear infection. Sitting in the hot sun waiting to load is what tipped me over the edge.
Anyhow I couldnt finacially hold out for 6 months so I spoke to my GP about the options open to me.
I was advised to see a cardiovascular surgeon privatley to speed up my case. I went to my local private hospital and explained what had happened. He put me on a 72 hour heart monitor that very day. After the 3 days on the monitor and some other tests he anyalised the results and declared me fit as a fiddle. He wrote a letter to DVLA and gave them the results and explained that the blackout was caused by illness and heat exhaustion.
1 week later I had my licence back and the green light from DVLA.
This private treatment only cost me £96!!! The best £96 I have ever spent.
So my advice to you is go private to speed up the process.
it could be a year DVLA take your licence from you unless you can prove otherwise although they don’t alway take this have been through it before & there again although all my appointments with cardiologist & Neurologist so have to wait a bit longer but as long as you are clear for at least a year then you may apply for your licence after a full medical of course
