On the 2nd of August 2013 I suffered a brain clot due to falling of a wagon to the ground. Since the time of the accident three different doctors have examined me and told me that I am well enough to go back driving a hgv, but the dvla have got other ideas. Even though not any of they’re doctors have seen me they have decided to revoke my license until atleast August 2016. Have any of you guys on here had the same difficulty getting it back, and did you do something to speed up the process of getting it back?Thanks in advance
theres been numerous similar posts about this,but to a certain degree,then dvla seem to be a law to themselves and hold all the cards.invisible beancounters ruling your life…best of luck anyway,no doubt others in similar circumstances will know better,but at the same time,in respect of the heading of your post,who is brian clot…and what has he got to do with it??.. 
No offence to the OP.
But dieseldog uve got me F###ING cryin here, Brian Clot 
Its ^ his fault.
Maybe, if funds allow get a top Neuro specialist to examine you. If he says all is good then look into legal action. Dvla human rights etc.
The medical department take some swaying let me tell you. You may have the best consultant in the world in their field of work but on the panel of the medical department they will have one better 
All I can say mate is get your consultant to send in his views by letter stating all the treatment and tests you have had done and that he says you are fit to go back driving HGV’S, photocopy everything, once they have been sent off keep ringing them every couple of week to stay on their case, be prepared for a very long wait 6-8 week between them getting back in touch as they work on sending things 2nd class
Always send your documents recorded delivery so you have proof they have received it. Always ask for names when making phone calls and keep a log of times etc. Be prepared to have to go to a designated hospital that have a doctor who is DVLA registerd if they ask you to go for other tests. I would even right to other doctors involved in neuro surgery ask what they think and send their replys off to the DVLA. If you’re in a union see if they get you a soliciter for if it does and you decide to go to the appeal court.
Feel for you mate, it took me 6 month to get my licence back after I had detached retina and retinal tears. Luckly for me work kept me on in the warehouse. Them down at Swansea don’t care a swift tick of a pen can ruin a persons livelihood and put them possibly in dire financial danger.
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
The medical department take some swaying let me tell you. You may have the best consultant in the world in their field of work but on the panel of the medical department they will have one better
All I can say mate is get your consultant to send in his views by letter stating all the treatment and tests you have had done and that he says you are fit to go back driving HGV’S, photocopy everything, once they have been sent off keep ringing them every couple of week to stay on their case, be prepared for a very long wait 6-8 week between them getting back in touch as they work on sending things 2nd class
Always send your documents recorded delivery so you have proof they have received it. Always ask for names when making phone calls and keep a log of times etc. Be prepared to have to go to a designated hospital that have a doctor who is DVLA registerd if they ask you to go for other tests. I would even right to other doctors involved in neuro surgery ask what they think and send their replys off to the DVLA. If you’re in a union see if they get you a soliciter for if it does and you decide to go to the appeal court.
Feel for you mate, it took me 6 month to get my licence back after I had detached retina and retinal tears. Luckly for me work kept me on in the warehouse. Them down at Swansea don’t care a swift tick of a pen can ruin a persons livelihood and put them possibly in dire financial danger.
100% this, great post!!!
OP, i really, really sympathise with you, as would many here in general, and who are in a similar boat themselves. Last year in May i fell over and ended up with 2 large fractures on my skull aswell as 3 internal bleeds on my brain 
Fortunately the bleeds cleared, (it could have been so much worse) and in August last year my neuro consultant gave me the all clear and was happy to inform the dvla medical board, (idiots) that i was fit to return to driving. Sadly 3 weeks later the faceless insensitive doctors that sit on this medical panel overruled my neuro consultant and again revoked my licences, car and truck. I was fuming, and since that day have fought them in every way possible but it hasn’t really got me anywhere, it seems that the people on this medical panel really have no interest in individuals, they don’t care, and have no idea of the impact their decisions will have on individuals. It nearly ruined me fighting it, and having no wage coming in for 7 months due to their pathetic rulings, nearly ruined me financially, i was so broke at 1 stage with no food in the cupboards,and my mrs upstairs crying because of our situation that i walked round the house gathered all my dvds and xbox games up, plus my 8 month old £300 garmin sat nav and walked to the town, (couldn’t drive thanks to the dvla) and sold the lot to some exchange shop for £50 just to get some money for food. It was the lowest point of my life, i felt broken and a failure, but the dvla doctors have no idea or concern that this is what their (wrong) decisions can have on us as individuals. It really, really boils my ■■■■. Bear in mind that despite working full time since leaving school 26 years ago, so have payed plenty in tax and national insurance, the benefits people said i was worth nothing, and wouldn’t get any help in benefits. They did originally pay me£22 per week in benefits,wow, but after 10 weeks and without even telling us they stopped it. 5 weeks later we found this out, and have now had threatening letters from the benefits people saying that the money they payed us for that 10 weeks now has to be payed back, as we wasn’t entitled to it, and so now owe them. This country is great eh!!!
As Steve said, fighting the DVLA is hard, and all his advice is spot on in every way.
I got my MP involved, no real use to be honest, he was very easily palmed off by the DVLA, i even had 1 of the truck mags trying to fight my corner, they contacted the transport minister, who just swiftly passed the buck over to the DVLA and then some other faceless idiot down there just writes you 1 of their standard letters pretty much saying nothing can be done, blah, blah, blah, waffle, waffle, ■■■■■■■■, etc 
I finally got my car licence back in December so now have a job as a yardman/gofer/dogsbody, but its money, (not alot) and gives me something to do but it could be alot better if the DVLA would give me my lgv back. I recently tried again as i now had more proof from my neuro consultant of my fitness to drive, this was needed for the car licence. Last night at 10pm when i got in from work, (long day) there was a letter waiting for me from the DVLA medical board. It states that they are refusing the lgv application again as they now want further medical proof from my GP■■? WTF!!!
It also states that i have 2 weeks to get this information from the date on the DVLA letter otherwise its just refused and i will have to re-apply. Amzing then that the date on the letter that i got yesterday is the 16th of Feb, what ■■■■■■■ chance has anyone got when you are dealing with the incompetent bunch of imbeciles that is the DVLA medical board.
I’m not giving up just yet, and neither should you, fight them with everything you have, or can think of, these thoughtless, unsympathetic useless idiots have no idea what they are doing, or how they could be wrongly ruining peoples lives, its a disgrace!
Been there Got the Tee shirt…Unfortunately.
My heart condition is now perfectly clear (it was an odd problem and I saw the best expert in the world , who got me back to FULL heart health).
However it does not matter as their senior docs who asked his “opinion” decided on a Five yr clear of symptoms before I get mine back in 2017.
And you cannot take them to court either …unless you have very deep pockets, and if you have wtf do you want to drive a truck for !!!
MP route is a waste of space in my opinion…he made calls and was fobbed off.
Best of luck anyway
Bit more of an update to prove what you could be up against…
A doctor at my GP surgery phoned the DVLA medical board for me on Wednesday, fortunately he COULD speak to 1 of the medical board there and he was asked could he 100% prove that i was less than a 2% risk of having a seizure? He said of course he can not 100% prove this, so thats all the DVLA wanted to hear, so my application goes in the bin again. The doctor said on the phone he wouldn’t be able to prove 100% that anyone was less than this 2% risk, but that doesn’t matter to the DVLA.
Then to add insult to injury, the DVLA now say i will have to wait a minimum of 18 months from the accident, instead of the 12 they have been telling me all along.
Stinks of victimisation to me.
Meant to add that my neuro consultant has said on every occasion that in his opinion i am no seizure risk at all, considering i have never before, during or since the accident had a seizure. The DVLA continue to ignore or overrule my consultant though.
Something seriously wrong with the system when someone who’s worked hard all his life cannot get help from the government in his time of need through no fault of his own but they can give an unworking couple who have left school and never worked £300 plus a week because she opened her legs and had 3 kids.plus free housing and anything else tagged on.
big boots:
Something seriously wrong with the system when someone who’s worked hard all his life cannot get help from the government in his time of need through no fault of his own but they can give an unworking couple who have left school and never worked £300 plus a week because she opened her legs and had 3 kids.plus free housing and anything else tagged on.
Country’s ■■■■■■ mate. They’ll expect him to flip burgers in McD’s for about 5 pound an hour too if that jobs available at the Jobcentre while smack heads stroll in and get their emergency loan for their next bag of brown and the local dyke strolls in with her 6th boyfriend in 6 month and more children than days in a week to pick up her £250 a week to go and spend on White Lightning and Lambert and Butlers.
I had a fight to get my licence re-instated after DVLA revoked it because of diabetes. I had to go as far as lodging an appeal in the Magistrates Courts - luckily my OH is a legal graduate and she knew what to do and how to compile an appeal file.
The one course of action we did take and which helped a lot was to contact the Independent Complaints Assessor. He will not comment on the medical part of what DVLA do but he will look at they treat drivers eg, delay, asking for information they already have etc. and tell DVLA how they should resolve the matter.
Make a complaint to the Customer Complaint Resolution Team, send a copy to Oliver Morley the CEO and if this does not resolve the issue inform DVLA that you want the matter referred to the ICA.
Keep a strict eye on the time scale as you only have 6 months from hearing they have refused your licence to lodge an appeal in the courts and DVLA will try and delay correspondence. If you do go as far as the courts also bear in mind that if you are not earning or are on a low wage you can claim a fee waiver otherwise it will cost £235, but the courts won’t tell you this.
Not surprisingly, the majority of complaints against the DVLA relate to the Drivers Medical Group.
Thanks for that info Raybo, very useful
Oliver Morley was next on my list, and having the extra info you give about the ICA could come in very handy. The DVLA medical board are a joke.
Hi All
I’m Will Ex-trucker now working for the DVLA in Swansea
Can i Suggest that you start to use ‘Twitter’ to air your frustrations as this is monitered VERY VERY closely in the agency.
Regards
Will
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
big boots:
Something seriously wrong with the system when someone who’s worked hard all his life cannot get help from the government in his time of need through no fault of his own but they can give an unworking couple who have left school and never worked £300 plus a week because she opened her legs and had 3 kids.plus free housing and anything else tagged on.Country’s [zb] mate. They’ll expect him to flip burgers in McD’s for about 5 pound an hour too if that jobs available at the Jobcentre while smack heads stroll in and get their emergency loan for their next bag of brown and the local dyke strolls in with her 6th boyfriend in 6 month and more children than days in a week to pick up her £250 a week to go and spend on White Lightning and Lambert and Butlers.
aye this country is going backwards at 55 years old i was lucky enough to of never been unemployed, roll on to last year when i had a bad accident at home and needed two operations and twelve months physiotherapy… received ssp then got a letter informing me that it was stopping as you can only claim it for 12 months…so unless you have zero savings and live in rented property you then have to rely on your wifes earnings and spend all your savings it’s a blinking disgrace…one lesson i have learned is this whatever assets you have take my word and transfer them over to a son or daughter or else this goverment will force you to spend them on feeding yourself, rant over