Should I report my colleague for this?

[ZZTopp]

My colleague had some kind of seizure about a month ago. She lost consciousness whilst out walking. She was upset and confused when she regained consciousness and was taken to A & E.

She spent a few days in hospital having tests, luckily everything appeared normal. She was told at the hospital she cannot drive for the foreseeable future.

She has been getting a lift to and from work, but I saw her one evening by coincidence driving from the shops.

I asked her the next day in work how she was finding not driving to see if she would admit driving but she just said it’s ‘quite difficult’. I then said I had seen her and she admitted she had driven to the shops. She then said she didn’t tell me because she feels judged. She said the doctors have found nothing wrong with her and she feels well. I said well I think the doctors know best and she replied with, ‘the doctors can only base their decisions and diagnosis on information and test results- my test results are normal and I know how I feel’.

should I report her to the DVLA / police / manager at work?

No they wouldn't. You have to surrender the licence yourself. If you don't and have another seizure then the police can contact the GP to ask if there is a history of seizures.....that's when you can get into trouble for not surrendering your licence.

Generally after a seizure you need to wait x amount of time before driving again. Not self diagnosed.

Twelly

I understand that the colleague may not have given great detail, but she has said she's not supposed to drive. She's getting a lift to work, because of that.

She's been spotted driving and tried to minimise it, by saying she only went to the shop.

If the OP tells DVLA, they can investigate. If all is well, she can drive.

I’ve received a lengthy text from her, it appears I made a mistake by not considering the details and context. It wasn’t that black and white at all. This has resulted now in a problem between me and my colleague which will now escalate in to work. I’m embarrassed 😞

Oh yes I see what you mean.

I think too many people excuse driving when their license is revoked though. People often know the rules and choose to disregard it. It’s really crap, I’ve been there but it’s unacceptable.

If she has told you she is ok to drive then reply something along the lines of ‘I’m really pleased I made a mistake and everything is ok. Sorry that I got it wrong and have upset you. Have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year.’ You didn’t do anything wrong, you queried her driving against medical advise and openly told her you were going to contact the DVLA as you were concerned for safety reasons.

If, by not considering the context, she did drive while she is not supposed to, then reporting is still the right thing to do. As said upthread it is the equivalent to drink driving, you aren’t told to not drive for 6month (or a year) for giggles but because there is an increased risk. There are no excuses that make it ok to drive during this time.

@ZZTopp this is one of the reasons I was on the fence (as I put it) although I completely understood your concerns after many folk dying due to ppl driving who shouldn’t be, but you can never fully know someone’s medical history - they’ll tell you what they want to (she is allowed to share what she wants / needs to).

FWIW I think you’ve approached it from a ‘sticking your nose in’ perspective and I think your colleague had taken it so too from the lengthy text, therefore maybe you need to approach situations as such from a more supportive angle eg ‘I thought I saw you driving the other night, I was so happy for you, is that you on the mend?’
This way she is not threatened by you asking but is aware you are concerned and you know (may have said to other colleagues in passing too) and allows her to respond accordingly.

Why do people come on here and spout rubbish about things they don't understand?

My daughter has epilepsy. The majority of people who have seizures never have a cause found , so they just “ have epilepsy “. Usually they want you to be seizure free for a year before you are allowed to drive again , so she absolutely should not be driving even if they’ve not found anything.

That’s not always true.

My husbands doc notified DVLA when he was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. He received a letter from them about maybe 2 weeks later and they revoked his licence ( he didn’t drive in that 2 weeks)

He wasn’t allowed to drive until he got his CPAP machine and the data showed that he was getting the minimum required hours of sleep
per night. Once that happened he had to reapply for his license.

This. She’s no better than a drunk driver

The insurance will be invalid

Oh no, why is that? Can you go into more detail?

@ZZTopp I suspect i don’t now need to tell you it’s easier to keep out of other people’s business, they won’t thank you for getting involved. I consider very carefully the impact before saying anything I feel needs to be said!

I think you did the right thing

If there is a problem I think you need to say something like "I understand that you are upset with me but I feel I did the right thing. I could not live with myself if something had happened. You should not drive when you have been medically signed off from driving, you are putting yourself and others in danger AND your insurance would be invalid. I believe that you were making a mistake. I believe that I did the right thing. I hope we can move on from this"

"The liklihood of her having another seizure if the scans have showed all clear is about the same as you having a seizure."

Except it's not. She's at much more risk of a repeat seizure now.

I mean what did you expect really? She’s not going to be ok with you getting involved in her business and no amount of MN catastrophising what’s not going to happen makes it ok. Everybody is going to look at you like you’re a snake, you should have let it be.

How can you possibly be surprised by this? Assuming this is all true, you’ve potentially lost her her job, driving licence and caused her a huge amount of inconvenience. You behaved terribly and you deserve whatever she says to you.

In this situation you shouldn't report her at work, what she does outside of work is not their concern. DVLA yes, because if she had an accident she wouldn't be insured if she had no licence. Reporting at work is just making you a busy body unless it was a work vehicle.

There's no reason for it to escalate in to work.

Apologise and move on.

Surprise surprise

you are an absolute menace and deserve the workplace implications that will come your way

I absolutely agree with this x 1000

Report to DVLA but unless she's a bus driver etc then none of work's business

@Supergirl1958 when is it interfering in other people's business and when is it being a responsible citizen. Obviously neglected children next door? Leave or report? Screaming woman and thumping? Leave or report? Person who had a seizure and told you they weren't allowed to drive caught driving? Leave or report?

IF this is real, then embarrassed is the least you should be.

Fancy stirring the pot and being a busybody with knowing ANY of the facts 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️