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HGV license

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Rocktheboat

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My husband is an HGV driver type 2 and now on insulin. He has started his six week finger prick testing twice daily for the DVLA and is doing first thing in the morning and before bed, is this sufficient?
 
Rocktheboat said:
My husband is an HGV driver type 2 and now on insulin. He has started his six week finger prick testing twice daily for the DVLA and is doing first thing in the morning and before bed, is this sufficient?
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Best that he reads the DVLA guidelines very thoroughly, double checks them, and follows them to the letter. If you ask here and someone unfamiliar with HGV licences gives you bad advice then he’ll be off work longer than is needed.
 
Thank you for replying. The DVLA guidelines are not very clear hence the question.
Are there any HGV drivers on this forum that can offer any advice? Be much appreciated.
 
This may help

Diabetes and your driving licence

There are extra rules for people with diabetes who want to drive. This is to make sure it’s safe for you and others. This information is about what to tell your driving licensing authority when you have diabetes. Provisional licenses and booking your driving theory test What to expect at the...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk
 
If you search the forum you will see some other posts. The guidance to which ColinUK has given a link seems clear and I don't think anyone can really give any more advice without further information. For example, is your husband's medication the sort that carries a risk of hypos? Not every medication does. Has he experienced any hypos in the past? If he has and they are waking hypos then the guidance says it must be reported. Does he carry out the additional tests when driving, as advised in the link from ColinUK? The guidance is all around protecting not just your husband but those innocent travellers who may be affected by an HGV driver having a hypo whilst driving and a search of any new website will produce reports of unfortunate consequences of hypos whilst driving.
 
JimG said:
If you search the forum you will see some other posts. The guidance to which ColinUK has given a link seems clear and I don't think anyone can really give any more advice without further information. For example, is your husband's medication the sort that carries a risk of hypos? Not every medication does. Has he experienced any hypos in the past? If he has and they are waking hypos then the guidance says it must be reported. Does he carry out the additional tests when driving, as advised in the link from ColinUK? The guidance is all around protecting not just your husband but those innocent travellers who may be affected by an HGV driver having a hypo whilst driving and a search of any new website will produce reports of unfortunate consequences of hypos whilst driving.
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The OP clearly states her husband has started insulin, so yes he is on medication which can cause hypos and almost all of us using insulin will have had a hypo from time to time because managing diabetes with insulin is not easy and sometimes we get it wrong despite our very best efforts. That doesn't mean we can't drive. Only if we have had a hypo which required assistance during the day which would suggest our awareness is impaired.

Unfortunately we don't have many regular members who are HGV/PSV drivers but hopefully Paul @Busdriver60 will be along in due course to give you the benefit of his experience. Whilst he initially gave up PSV driving at diagnosis, he has I believe gone back to it and will be able to advise you from his personal experience of reapplying for his licence and keeping the required records and how he followed the guidelines.
 
rebrascora said:
The OP clearly states her husband has started insulin, so yes he is on medication which can cause hypos and almost all of us using insulin will have had a hypo from time to time because managing diabetes with insulin is not easy and sometimes we get it wrong despite our very best efforts. That doesn't mean we can't drive. Only if we have had a hypo which required assistance during the day which would suggest our awareness is impaired.

Unfortunately we don't have many regular members who are HGV/PSV drivers but hopefully Paul @Busdriver60 will be along in due course to give you the benefit of his experience. Whilst he initially gave up PSV driving at diagnosis, he has I believe gone back to it and will be able to advise you from his personal experience of reapplying for his licence and keeping the required records and how he followed the guidelines.
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I know insulin causes hypos but we do need more information on whether these had happened. I should have added, "Which he is" after my comment on the type of medication. Careless of me, I appreciate. I was trying to widen the discussion so that others could see what was needed if they were looking at the posts for themselves. I perhaps should have thought less about the general application and I was never suggesting that being on insulin meant that you can't dive but the rules for class 2 licences are more strict than for class 1.
 
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No, I don't drive a bus, just a car, so my twopenn’orth is probably worth less than that!
I would suggest he carefully follows the DVLA requirements for someone on insulin, among which:
  • two-hour blood glucose test rule - at start of driving and (at least) every two hours subsequently
  • only drives IF he is hypo-aware
What would really help him IMHO is a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) like Freestyle Libre 2+ or Dexcon, which would give reassurance on a continuous basis that he is not going to become hypo (this can replace the finger-prick blood tests in most circumstances). Unfortunately BGM sensors are not cheap, unless he can get them on the NHS, which might be unlikely.
 
@John Gray I believe that HGV drivers do need to finger prick for DVLA and Constant Glucose Monitors are not acceptable like they are for those of us car drivers but I can see how a CGM like Libre might provide a bit of a safety net to prevent getting timed out somewhere because you dropped a bit too low and had to park up and wait for recovery occasionally and just generally be a bit of reassurance.
 
John Gray said:
No, I don't drive a bus, just a car, so my twopenn’orth is probably worth less than that!
I would suggest he carefully follows the DVLA requirements for someone on insulin, among which:
  • two-hour blood glucose test rule - at start of driving and (at least) every two hours subsequently
  • only drives IF he is hypo-aware
What would really help him IMHO is a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) like Freestyle Libre 2+ or Dexcon, which would give reassurance on a continuous basis that he is not going to become hypo (this can replace the finger-prick blood tests in most circumstances). Unfortunately BGM sensors are not cheap, unless he can get them on the NHS, which might be unlikely.
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This advice is not correct which is why I’d advise sticking to the dvla material. HGV licences can use a cgm but they have the fingerprick at least twice a day every day even when not driving too.
 
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I think all of the advice mentioned so far is about testing after you get your license.
I understand there is a certain amount of historical test results needed before you are entitled to a HGV license. My understanding was this is what the OP has asked about.
This paper describes the first phase (before medical, etc) which requires 6 weeks of results showing you are testing to the “required level” and second stage (questionnaire and medical exam).
 
Please note what it says in Lucyr's signature.
 
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I believe there is a difference between blunt and rudely dismissive. Saying "this is all a load of rubbish" is a) an opinion stated as fact and b) unwelcome in a thread like this (in my opinion, although I doubt many would disagree).
 
debs248 said:
I believe there is a difference between blunt and rudely dismissive. Saying "this is all a load of rubbish" is a) an opinion stated as fact and b) unwelcome in a thread like this (in my opinion, although I doubt many would disagree).
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Thank you!
A passive-aggressive statement saying (I paraphrase mildly) that "if you consider that I have said something rude or offensive then it's not my fault because I'm that way" is tantamount to victim-blaming...
 
Your advice to stop fingerpricking and use a libre would have prevented this person getting their HGV licence and meant they were off work longer than needed
 
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debs248 said:
I believe there is a difference between blunt and rudely dismissive. Saying "this is all a load of rubbish" is a) an opinion stated as fact and b) unwelcome in a thread like this (in my opinion, although I doubt many would disagree).
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It’s a fact that Johns advice was not something the OPs husband should follow to regain their HGV licence. We should dismiss advice that is factually incorrect and that will prevent someone from working. What’s unwelcome about that? You want to welcome factually wrong statements that mean someone can’t get back to work because they’ve been using a cgm instead of fingerpricking because some bloke on the internet who doesn’t drive a HGV said they should?
 
Lucyr said:
It’s a fact that Johns advice was not something the OPs husband should follow to regain their HGV licence. We should dismiss advice that is factually incorrect and that will prevent someone from working. What’s unwelcome about that?
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Correcting an error is always necessary, often welcome. I did not understand from your comment about rubbish that that was what you were trying to do. Thank you for clarifying. I found the wording unclear and upsetting, even though it was not directed at me.
Lucyr said:
You want to welcome factually wrong statements that mean someone can’t get back to work because they’ve been using a cgm instead of fingerpricking because some bloke on the internet who doesn’t drive a HGV said they should?
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No, I don't. My policy, which I admit I do not always manage to stick to, is that unless something is true, helpful and kindly meant, I try not to say it.
 
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