Dvla form unsafe elderly driver help

[itscomplicatedlife]

I've contacted the police about Dads unsafe driving and they can't do anything unless he actually does something unsafe, his car hanging off the pavement back in to his cul d sac doesn't count abs told me to go to the dvla! I can't get enough by phone and it's told me to go online but online I can't find anything to report him and the web chat tells me to call!! 🤦‍♀️😡 does anyone know how to report concerns and where to find the correct info to do it with dvla so I can report him as sadly he's just unsafe and his neighbours and myself are worried he will have a proper accident soon! He's already leaving his car to roll down the drive, hitting neighbours pots and nearly crashed in to a neighbor last wk, I fear for everyone's safety. He is almost 80 I hate having to do this but we all agree it is time to let it go except he won't willingly

I did this - https://contact.dvla.gov.uk/driver/capturetransactionntype?transactiontypeeid=drivers_medical. Worked a treat - fil called for test and banned and he had no idea it was me.

Can you remove his keys? GP could help...I remember having a conversation with a patient about driving whilst the son was in the room. Son had given me the heads up and I told this man he really wasn't safe enough to drive because of X y and z and he agreed. So son took car away.

Thank you both!! Spoke to his Gp who told me to contact the police or dvla. The Gp knows what he's like and he refuses to give it up so selfish as it's unsafe! I'll try that link thank you!!

Sorted via that link thank you!! I found this yest but could not find the link again anywhere hooefully on the way to being sorted now x x

A heads up. When we did this with my Dad the first thing they did was ask him for an eye test. I guess that’s a fairly cheap way of them investigating it. I ‘helped’ by accompanying him to the test and might have had a quiet word with the tester. He failed on breadth of field anyway. Dad had undiagnosed Dementia and was getting lost on top of his general poor driving.

Also he may well receive a load of forms to fill in with medical conditions. I helped fill those in too and made sure nothing was omitted.

@MMAMPWGHAP thank you good points to remember, he'll have a job filling them in I think but he won't tell me if he's had them anyway ao god knows what will happen then, if he doesn't fill them in and they just revoked it I don't know if he'd pay attention to the letters either it's sort of that bad iyswim, I feel like I'm in no mans land atm with him. Spoke to his Gp and he said there isn't a lot they can do until he can't wash or feed himself then they or I can call
Social services, atm he is managing to do those things from what I can tell. But it's a bit of a grey area he's in atm x

Perhaps a preemptive story about a ‘friend of a friend’ who had to fill in the DVLA forms and the consequences of doing it wrong - insurance trouble, legal consequences etc etc.
I actually know someone who tried to persuade her father to stop. He didn’t and had an accident that killed her mother.
You are trying to do the right thing. Good Luck.

My father gave up driving when his insurance got too high, but that won’t help you if your father’s that young. Insurance rates for “almost 80s” are still quite low, if, like your father, they haven’t had accidents or claims.

We had this issue with FIL. Unfortunately none of his medical conditions ticked the right boxes but his judgement of speed and distance was awful. "Luckily" he had an accident at a roundabout, no one else wax involved, his car was written off and the police advised him that he should seriously consider stopping driving and that did the trick (after a few wobbles). Goodness knows what we could have done otherwise.

Can I just say thank you for doing this. So many people don’t report their relatives for dangerous driving when they should do. You’re doing the right thing, for him and others.

I wrote tit the DVLA to ask them what my Dad needed to do to renew his licence and listed his medical issues, and they sent much more complex and detailed forms which covered much more than the standard online form for renewal, including notice that they would need to also contact his GP for further information. I also told his GP I was very worrying about ability to drive and he said he would not be supporting it. I think general slowness, spacial awareness and ability to think quickly should be tested on drivers at that age, I really do.

Tit! 🤦‍♀️

Honestly even if they let him continue driving please make sure he has a decent car, the amount of elderly I see driving round in fragile cars scares me. Even if they aren't at fault if something like a i10 get hit by say a X5 it's not going to be pretty for someone elderly and fragile

I reported it anonymously on line. It happened fairly quickly.
The person lost their licence.

I filled the online form in for my FIL - they wrote to him and asked for permission to see his medical records.

Be prepared to have a cover story of who might have dobbed him in if you aren't prepared to come clean! It got asked if it was me, lied through my teeth and ILs came to the conclusion it was a nurse at his clinic. Phew.

He realised the DVLA weren't going to give up if he refused permission to see his medical records, went to discuss it with his GP who pointed out he shouldn't be driving and then gave it up.

Actually there is more the GP can do at an earlier stage than not being able to wash or feed himself - they can report to DVLA themselves (but may be limited if he doesn't have an official condition that is on the DVLA's list) and they can also refer him for a driving assessment.

The driving assessment is a lot more detailed than just doing your driving test again. The DVLA may send him for one as well.