How quickly do the DVLA act on concerns about unfit drivers?

[redstaff]

I reported my MIL to the DVLA, she is not medically fit to drive. How long does the process start? I reported her 4 days ago.

She was in hospital with respiratory failure on Saturday hooked up to a breathing thing but has now been discharged. She has a lot of medical conditions and is barely mobile. She slurs when she talks and is on some pretty powerful meds (Gabepentin, Epilum and high dose anti depressants plus a load more - at least 9 prescriptions id say). She does not have epilepsy, she takes the meds for migraines.

She can barely get out of her chair at home nor step in her ensuite shower (because the 10cm step is too high) but she’s talking about driving again next week!!

I’m just wondering how quickly the DVLA act on these things? I’m really worried that she’s going to seriously injure or kill someone?

*Her neighbour also said MIL shouldn’t be driving and has reported to the DVLA as well.

In my experience, they received two letters about the two reports the DVLA had received about them. But they have no idea who reported them. They assume two neighbours, but I’m not a neighbour and I don’t know who the other person was.

@WhatAMarvelousTune Thank you I appreciate that. I just wish there was a way of them acting as though “this is routine because of your age/health/medical conditions”. If they know they’ve been reported, even anonymously, it would be incredibly obvious where it came from.

Thank you. I have done all / most of this over the last few days. I was really hoping that the DVLA wouldn’t be a slow process. Her call last night about driving to Tesco has put me on edge with everything.

I’m not being rude. I explicitly asked for peoples experiences of the DVLA process and people have jumped on stating the bleeding obvious implying that I have not thought about such things.

If it were that easy to take away keys we would have done it by now.

I now have a better understanding that the DVLA process is not that quick (which I suspected tbh) so I am going to have to look at taking away her keys/deflating tyres once my baby is born. Unfortunately this doesn’t help with next weeks drive to Tesco.

I reported DF in November as their gardener said he had reversed into their cart a number of times ( clearly it was too much to expect him to report it) but he was keen to tell me that DF shouldn’t be driving.
The letter came through last week, he’s already in a care home and hasn’t driven since the doctor told him not to in December.
it was a long form for him to fill
in, I tried to ring up to say he had relinquished his license but they wanted me to fill in a long form and email it so I will probably just wait for them to cancel it.
As with most things relating to elderly people family is expected to do everything and castigated if they don’t and authorities very reluctant to help in any way. I had to beg the GP to tell DF he couldn’t drive after hospital admission. He clearly had dementia but because he hadn’t been to memory clinic ( many months wait) it wasn’t officially diagnosed.

I think it’ll likely be obvious in our case too! Although my sister is a nurse and she said that she would regularly flag people to the DVLA so we could also play dumb and say it must’ve been the hospital staff.

TBH I am at such a loss with it all that even if she does find out it’s me I don’t even care. She’s behaving so selfishly and has done for years 😞

Really sorry to hear about your situation also ❤️

Why isn't your dh dealing with HIS mum?

Weeks. Even with medical evidence and the concerns raised specifically from the consultant.

I used to have to report to the DVLA on the regular. I spoke to them once, and they advised if the individual won't listen to medical advice the best thing to do is wait until they are in the car and then call the police, tell them someone is driving against medical orders and give the reg plate and likely route.

I am so sorry to hear about your DF. You clearly tried your best and I understand that it’s really not as simple as ‘take the keys away’ situation. My MIL is stubborn, mean and selfish and she frequently lies to us with not telling us about her driving / health situation.

My fears were that the DVLA process isn’t quick or straightforward - Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I am
pleased that no one was injured when your DF reversed into the garden cart.

It has been a really stressful and frustrating situation. Not once has she asked how me / baby are doing despite being in the same hospital at the same time as her. I cannot wrap my head around the behaviour.

He is! I posted on here looking for advice. I did the report on DVLA because I am on bed rest and it was a 2 second job from my phone while he’s at work.

I emailed the consultant my Dad was under, I had been to all his appointments with him. (He had been told he couldnt drive for a year i think, in the first instance). I cant remember if she raised it at the next appointment, or whether she wrote to the dvla.

thank you for sharing this. If MILs neighbour catches her driving I will see if I can call the police. Is it best to call the 101?

Wtf?

If she can't manage the step into the shower how the hell will she be able to lift her foot onto the brake pedal in an emergency?

My mum had a chap drive right through her garden a few years ago, turns out he'd been having seizures and was still driving. Was subsequently told he absolutely couldn't drive but he still did, had an identical accident and died as a result.

I would have zero qualms about confiscating car keys in OP's case.

What if your MIL found out it was you?. She won;t anyway because all such reports to the DVLA are confidential.

Do you really want to have anything to do with her at all given how selfish she is and has been most of her entire life?. She won't be much of an example to your as yet unborn child.

This is a good point and something we’ve discussed. We already keep her at arms length and are so close to washing our hands with her. This has been ongoing for 8 years! 8 years of constant woe is me selfishness with zero shits given about us. We’ve tried everything to help her which she has hysterically reacted to. It’s exhausting.

She phoned DH last night and when his phone rang we were shocked because she hasn’t actually phoned him in about 10 years - it’s all one way where DH phones her weekly to check in. And she only called to say she’s driving to Tesco next week not to as how her (first) unborn grandchild is doing. Honestly, the selfishness is off the charts.

We’re both very much done with the situation but can’t in good conscience let her continue to drive.

Trying to help her was always a waste of time and effort because she is selfish to a fault. In addition she likely sees you two as right fools, these types see kindness as weakness.

I would Inform the police community officers today about her repeated intentions to drive to Tescos next week. And the battery from her car needs to be removed.

We are fools 💔

Realistically, all the DVLA can do is write to the person and ask them to confirm that they are fit to drive, request that they attend a medical / eye test or say that they are revoking their licence,

but if the person doesn't accept that decision there is nothing to physically stop them driving unless or until it gets picked up by a passing police car when they are out - hopefully not after they've been involved in an accident.

The only practical way you can ensure that they are no longer on the road if they don't agree is to prevent them having access to a vehicle - as others have suggested, removing the keys or disconnecting the battery would be the easiest options.

As one of the targets of your ire, I agree with PP that you have been rude.

Ah I see! Ok thank you to everyone for your advice. I really do not need to be told quite obvious suggestions as I have discussed this at length with my husband.

If we could stick to experiences of DVLA interactions and if people have experienced a similar situation directly themselves, it’d be much appreciated to hear from you.

I'd set up Uber (if this would work) or else arrange lifts for her, to avoid this issue.
Had the same thing with an older relative, but as soon as we made it clear we'd help him so he never had to worry about getting anywhere, he was fine about selling his car-we helped arrange it all for him.
He was so scared at the though of losing his independence and being lonely, so if you reassure them that you're going to make sure they get to go on every trip they want, they're usually fine. Not easy for us working parents, but it's the only way to make sure they're ok.

I haven’t used Uber before so will need to look into this. I am concerned that they won’t allow her in a vehicle because of her hygiene.

It’s very tip toey with MIL. Reassurance of help pushes her in the opposite direction if that makes sense. So she’ll end up driving more almost like a point to try prove to us that she’s fine.

Thank you for sharing.

999. As the crime is in progress.

If you call 101 they'll patch you through to 999 anyway, but you'll have lost valuable time.

Does she have a “reportable condition “ for example Parkinson’s? There is a a list on the gov website. Or any of her medications say she shouldn’t drive. Has she seen someone like hospital or opticians about her double vision.

Months and months, if they do anything at all.