Summary
I suspect the paperwork approach to contact the dvla is especially suffering from the final frontier, space-ing reqs creating an insufficiency of capacity to deal with demand. This hits the public, especially IT avoiders or the dig id denied and thus represents a disequitable systematic bias against those people. Its a highly frustrating setup with the responsible hidden behind online accounts and phones. One must compress their expanded feelings of Dickensian fustian discombobulation, or so i'm told.
Although finally i sent a letter of complaint highlighting what i wanted, what i'd experienced, areas of inadequate service and suggestions for improvement, i doubt this letter resulted in my receipt of letter inviting to choose a specsavers for an appt as it came just 1 day later. However i think important to raise a complaint even after a solution has been found so that the organisation can consider whether and how they can respond to such problems. Clearly the more people who write, the more likely they are to rake action to resolve a situation.
The Alliterative History of DaDucky dealings with the DVLA - an Exercise in Weariness
My dealings with as they say in Liverpool, div la. started in Nov 2020, having asked the opthamalogist a few questions, i decided to check the dvla had the most uptodate info.
Month (M1) dvla 0300 790 6806 8am-7pm, couldnt get thru. Tried numerous times at times of day over the next months
M1-1.5 tried to register for online submission of forms. But bcos i have no loans eg mortgage, and try to limit websites scraping my data, i have a ltd online presence associated with my name. So they did not confirm my id, despite my provision id doc scans. The gov id caper is a farce.
M2.5 posted dvla D1, D42, Diab1, gen 1 + license to DVLA
M2.5-3 i wanted to know if they'd rcvd my paperwork. Tried calling the dvla x3 and sent of emails to eftd, no answer
M3.5 i spent 4 hrs calling the dvla to check on fate of my paperwork. Finally i got thr. Yes they told me, at M2. I explained i had spent the time between posting the paperwork + this call worrying about whether it lost in the post/ delayed or some other fate. I wd hv appreciated the courtesy of their acknowledging receipt. I was told "This isn't how they they operate". I responded this isn't how the DVLA chooses to operate.
[In this day +age, this shd really an automated occurence].
M5.5 .DVL A wrt to me stating i needed an fov test, but there was a delay. [The dvla provided no indication what they were doing to manage the delay or indication of constraint on the delay ie i could persist licenseless indefinitely]
M6 wrote ltr of complaint to dvla(see below if you'd to do the same)
M6+1 day rcvd ltr from Specsavers asking to chse a shop. I would need to arrange with them.
M6.5 appt with SS
M7 received renewed license
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Ltr of Complaint
https://contact.dvla.gov.uk/complaints/capture_transaction
DDMMYY
Dear Sir/ Madam
This is a letter of complaint regarding the service i am receiving from the DVLA.
On the DDMMYY, i posted an application to renew my medically ltd driving license.
On DDMMYY, i received a letter from the DVLA stating i needed a field of vision test and there would be a delay, but the dvla would be in touch.
My complaint concerns:
1) the lack of constraint on the delay.
With the lack of information provided, i may have to wait licenseless indefinitely, an unequitable situation. Even prisoners are given constraints to their sentences.
Its not clear to me why there is a delay- beyond the uninformative catchall "COVID...delays...sorry...". [ i didn't say this, but it wd hv bn useful to know whether the delay was a DVLA or a Specsaver capacity problem or both and what they are doing to solve it e.g. holding up their hands and sighing, oooh woe is me!]
I note my local Specsavers (...) is open.
2) the administration of FOV appts by the DVLA seems to be a pinch point.
Perhaps a better method would be to issue candidate drivers a voucher to be redeemed at any optician who met the DVLA standards and registered with the DVLA, where such opticians would be listed on the dvla website, thus broadening the supply base and not limiting supply of FOV tests to one supplier of appointments.
3) That i have not been able to reach a human in the dvla medical section in regard to understanding when I might get an FOV appt. [i didn't say this as i'd lost count but i had tel'd numerous times without success]
I believe you need
- The medical section expanded now/ASAP - covid been going on a year now so it hardly constitutes a new situation any more +
- That the medical section be expanded to match demographic and associated clinical burden, chiefly aging, for the future.
I still await a FOV test date having posted all my forms on DDMMYY, over a third of year ago[, licenselessly].
Yours faithfully
