Hi all
Firstly I want to say hi to everyone, this is my first post on the forums, however I have spent quite some time looking at the different posts and subjects and found it both interesting and informative.
I will apoligise now for the poor spelling, however I am extremly dyslexic (why the hell is that word so hard to spell!) and even spell checkers get confused with what I am trying to say sometimes!
Anyway I finally managed to get my provisional Licence from DVLA after applying 4 months ago! and here is my story.
Driving has been a pasion of mine since I was a lad, my dad was a proper old school tramper, which I often accompanied him doing, and I spent the last 10 years of my life in a job that enabled me to drive HGV’s under a legal exemption, I took a 5 week course back in 2002 and was retrained and assessed on a 6 monthly basis, so had a bit of experience. However due to an incident that I would rather not re-live, I found myself unable to carry on within the job that I really enjoyed and loved; but wanted to continue with the driving career. So over 4 months ago I applied for my driving licence to have the category C provisional entitlement put on so that I could pass my HGV Test and start a career within haulage;
I completed all the relevant paperwork paid for my medical examination and sent everything off to Swansea (due to the aformentioned ‘incident’ I did spend some time on medication due to PTSD however came off the medication and have made a full recovery around a year ago). At the same time I also applied to have my address changed my Photograph updated and a digital tachograph card issued.
As I expected it all to go relatively smoothly I then started looking for relevant employment and managed to secure an ideal job for a new starter within the HGV driving world driving for a local container transport company (fortunatly I knew the company transport manager well and dealt with them several times in my previous role), I also contacted a driving school and got a course lined up as soon as possible.
After 2 weeks of hearing nothing from the DVLA I decided to chase things up and find out what the delay was, to be told that there was an issue with my medical and they needed to check something out with my GP and that they were in the process of writing to him; I could fully understand this and decided to wait again. Almost 3 weeks later my GP finally received the letter which he confirmed the details and sent back the following day. With this in mind I waited a few days and called the DVLA to confirm receipt of the letter; only to be told that it takes up to 2 weeks for any letters received to be scanned onto the system! With this in mind I decided to call the DVLA on an almost daily basis in an attempt to get the licence and get employed as soon as possible.
I called the DVLA again some 3 weeks later to find out if the letter had been scanned onto the system, to be told that it finally has! Almost 3 weeks after receiving it! Armed with this excellent news I asked what happens next, only to be told that the current wait for someone to even look at my details is around 12 weeks! If they then require further details again then I am looking at a similar wait! I appealed to the customer service representative to see if there is anything that could be done, but there was nothing that could be done.
I understand that the DVLA are very busy and finance is at an all time low, however I was in a situation that I was about to loose a job which would get me off the unemployment line, because DVLA are taking so long to resolve an issue that could have been clarified with a phone call to my Doctor. I understand that things need to be in writing and the correct forms need to be filled in but I don’t understand why things take so long.
I am currently costing the tax payer around £150 per week by being unemployed in benefits alone, not including all the time at the job centres, food tokens, free prescriptions, not having to pay my council tax etc etc and with this in mind with the current wait I will end up costing around £4000 plus, which is money that could be better spent on employing additional staff at the DVLA to ensure these issues don’t continue to happen. Lets say for argument sake there are 100 people in the same or a similar situation as me… well I will let you do the maths!
I was very lucky to be able to secure a job so quickly, especially as I have limited experience within the HGV driving arena, and if I had lost my position then I would have ended up costing the tax payer even more money whilst looking for another job.
In addition to this I was unable to even conduct temporary employment doing 7.5t or van driving work as all agencies need to see a copy of my driving licence and a digital tachograph, which are currently with the DVLA! I am not skilled in any other areas so was at a bit of a loss what to do; and for some reason nothing (change of address, photograph or digital tachograph) can be updated until the medical issue is resolved!!!
My argument is that Surely there is a better system that can be adopted, if this is happening to me it must be happening to others. The government are desperately trying to get people back to work and reduce our outgoings but issues like this can only be described as counterproductive.
I am not asking for any medical issues to be side lined in fact totally agree that all medical issues must be investigated properly, however I am asking that a faster more efficient system is put into place.
From a personal point of view I have found this whole situation a little frustrating to say the least, it is very easy to get unemployed and stay unemployed, it is a downward spiral, and I really do feel for people who are caught up on the unemployment train. No one needs added barriers, but instead some support from organisations like DVLA would be helpfull
I look forward to your thoughts.
PS, if you really really want to know more about my history then please PM me, I am not the sort of person who likes to discuss personal issues and history on a public forum, but will happily chat to anyone who is interested.
