Report Mum to DVLA, now what happens?

My husband is a dementia nurse and even when someone receives a diagnosis it is up to the patient to self report their diagnosis to the DVLA. Utter madness as nobody wants to stop driving obviously.
This is in Scotland btw

We had to contact the police after our elderly family member had an accident but couldn't remember what happened. Gp wasn't very helpful and dvla takes time so we spoke to someone at our local station who came out and had a word.

Unfortunately family member forgot and then Crashed again the week after so we took the keys against their will.

They were diagnosed with dementia shortly after.

@NellyTheCake I don't know why the GP is assessing as fit to drive. They are not trained to do this. A driving assessment is fine at specialist centres by people trained in the assessments.
The memory assessment tests do not do this. As a GP in severe cases of dementia it's obvious. In more mild cases it's more subtle.
The DVLA are taking ages and they really don't do very much.
Over the years as a GP I had several relatives discuss their worries about their parent's driving with me. If the family had driven with them and were seriously concerned I would advise appropriately.
They didn't always listen. It's a really difficult situation.

@I8toys I completely agree - DSis helped DF renew his licence the last time but we should have seen that him being unable to renew himself was a sign.

@NellyTheCake good luck and I hope the GP helps in the end. Nurses who had known DF for years helped us with DVLA.

Have you tried contacting the local community police team? They would know if something like a hit and run had happened, or if the car had triggered ANPR somewhere or appeared on CCTV. Might help piece together what happened and may also be able to have a quiet word or more advice about stopping her driving.

No one takes any responsibility for this. FIL diagnosed with mixed dementia becoming increasingly forgetful. We asked the doctor about driving, he said that FIL was not allowed to drive until he had been assessed. We told FIL not to drive, he still drove against this advice.

We tried to arrange the assessment for him - showed him the route, did a trial run etc. He got lost and had to be rescued. We took the car away from him. We asked the police what would happen if he continued to drive - nothing - fined £1,000 if in an accident I think it was. Couldn't care less.

So we've let his insurance and his driving licence lapse as he cannot action anything on line himself. We said if he could organise everything himself he could go for the assessment and get his car back but we would not be doing it for him. To have someone who is a danger to themselves and others driving around is not something as a family we wanted on our conscience.

He now has a bus pass and walks most places. Taxis are like some evil thing for pensioners.

In my experience, very little. We reported a relative's dementia diagnosis to DVLA (with his consent). Nothing happened. We chased up after a few weeks - were told it was in the system. He surrendered his licence voluntarily a few months later. To my knowledge, no contact ever came from DVLA.

You've done the right thing, OP. Hopefully the DVLA may ask her GP to confirm whether or not she's safe to drive and/or she may be invited for a driving assessment.

I appreciate that it may not be possible to take the keys - but might it be possible to disconnect the battery so the car won't start? And maybe you could contact the garage and explain the situation? Might they be open to you paying for their assessment that "the car can't be fixed"?

Good luck with it. I know how grim this is. You must be beside yourself. But you have done the right thing. x

I reported my dad to the DVLA, about six weeks later the GP invited him for an assessment and he dutifully went. Unfortunately she assessed him as fit to drive, utter madness in my opinion but I have done all I can I can't rereport him.

*that

When the GP expressed surprise that Mum (dementia), was still driving, we took her car '"to get it MOT'd". In reality it was parked at a relatives house. Then we spun it out with "the garage are very busy and haven't looked at it yet". Then "oh dear it needs some special parts and they're having difficulty getting them". And so on. Eventually she acknowledged driving was difficult now due to all the roadworks and agreed to sell the car. We did that quickly before she could change her mind.

Felt bad but while she was driving (very erratically), we lived in fear thar she would cause a fatal accident.

It’s worth telling them that if they kill someone that is potentially death by dangerous driving, and that carries a custodial sentence. Unfortunately there are multiple cases every year of elderly people who spend the rest of their days in prison because of this. A jury will have no sympathy if someone kills a child.

What did the GP base their assessment on? I suspect she may be suffering form a bit of mental impairment, so while not 'dementia' it is possible this iis the underlying cause. Did they do the memory test?

I had issues with my mum. (In Australia). Despite having very clear legislation here, her GP said “What do you want me to do here???” Her mechanic said “Her car has had more hits than the Beatles!”. She ran into poles, parked cars, oncoming traffic, you name it. Absolutely terrifying. Turns out she had a brain tumour and cataracts. I ended up taking both sets of her keys back to Europe with me.

My Mum told me of conversations she'd had with two different banks regarding money she paid in for my 2 daughters. Word for word the same conversation in each bank. I eventually had to go with her to the banks sort out issues. She was diagnosed with dementia not long after. It is very hard xx

Don't expect much.

My neighbour had advanced cancer, he couldn't move his head/neck, could barely see, was on a pretty strong cocktail of drugs and could barely move his legs. We reported him after he nearly ran me down one morning while I was walking to my bus stop, he didn't even recognise that it was me! The DVLA did nothing

She wants the garage to look at the car.

Get them to come and pick it up.

Hopefully they will confirm it won’t be drivable again.

Persuade her not to buy another one, and show her other options - taxis, bus in her area. My mum uses a charity which runs a bus service which will take you to locations within the council area, wait for you and bring you home again, all for a very small yearly subscription.

Have you tried phoning the police to see if anyone has reported a hit & run ?

They may be able to piece it together.

How's her eyesight? hearing? If she's that confused about what's happened surely you must be concerned about dementia?

Unfortunately GPs can't/won't take responsibility for deciding whether someone can drive or not - it's just not in their scope. They can tell the DVLA if someone has a condition that the DVLA should be notified of (long list on DVLA website) then it's up to the DVLA.

Maybe the garage will write her car off and you can convince her to not get another but put the car money towards taxis?

Take the keys and tell her the garage will be in touch? ( can you move the car out of her sight?)
Maybe find someone to take her out a couple of days a week? ( a carer perhaps but don’t call them that!)

Take the keys away OP and deny all knowledge.

If she can crash to that extent of not noticing then how will she notice a toddler on the path. Or even if she hits one.

She obviously cannot be safe on the roads and as hard as that is for her, she shouldn't be on the road at the expense of other drivers and pedestrians.

Hopefully the car is written off which will save you from doing this.

Sit down with her plan and show her local public transport. But she absolutely shouldn't be on the road.

I'm afraid if the GP doesn't report a condition that means she must give up driving she will probably be allowed to self certify. That's what happened with FIL. He didn't have the "right" conditions so could carry on even though his ability to judge speed and distance was gone. In the end he wrote his car off in an accident that fortunately didn't involve anyone else but did close a road for an hour and the police persuaded him by saying if he gave up his licence they wouldn't prosecuted driving without due care and attention.
He told everyone it was his first accident even though we knew that wasn't true, though the others had been minor.