Driving

[AJLang]

I saw the optician today. He said that my corrected vision in my good eye is 6/10. It was 6/6 a year ago. He said that I was borderline for driving so I mustnt drive. I was shocked by what he said. I asked if that meant that I could have a disabled bus pass but he said that was for my eye hospital to decide. So he's saying that I can't drive but doesn't know about bus pass. Feeling p***d off. As it that wasn't bad enough I then went to my consultant pump clinic to be told it had been cancelled!

 

[pav]

To get a bus pass you need the letter that DVLA will send you saying your driving licence is revoked on medical grounds. I notified them 15 years ish ago about my sleep apnoea and they gave me a whole 3 days notice that my licence was revoked.

It took me over a year to get my licence back once I could show treatment was working.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

I saw the optician today. He said that my corrected vision in my good eye is 6/10. It was 6/6 a year ago. He said that I was borderline for driving so I mustnt drive. I was shocked by what he said. I asked if that meant that I could have a disabled bus pass but he said that was for my eye hospital to decide. So he's saying that I can't drive but doesn't know about bus pass. Feeling p***d off. As it that wasn't bad enough I then went to my consultant pump clinic to be told it had been cancelled!

You posted a couple of years ago that you had handed in your licence as your sight was so bad, so I'm a tad confused by your post.

 

[Flower]

Hi Amanda, if you look at the Gov UK site and enter your post code it will take you to your local council site and gives the eligibility to apply for a disabled persons bus pass. I remember I had to take my letter confirming I was partially sighted from the Eye Hospital into the Council office as evidence.
Here's the link https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-disabled-bus-pass

 

[Lynn Davies]

Oh Amanda! What a shocker! Sorry to hear this has rained down on you (((hugs)))

 

[AJLang]

Thank you everyone. It seems that I don't qualify for a bus pass because my sight isn't bad enough but the optician says that I mustn't drive..
Sue I really appreciate how much you seem to be following all of my threads with regard to both CFS and driving. Yes I did hand in my driving licence 1-2 years ago because I didn't feel safe driving, but in my heart of hearts I hoped that I would be able to drive again. However from what the optician has said today the chances of that happening seems minimal. There is always light when there is hope but when the hope is taken away the darkness feels much worse.

 

[pav]

Amanda just pinched this from my councils web site, might be worth asking DVLA or your doc for a letter and trying for a pass, depending on what they term physical fitness.

• you have been prevented from holding or would be refused a driving licence under Part III of the Road Traffic Act 1988, under section 92 of the Act (physical fitness) on grounds other than persistent misuse of drugs or alcohol.

 

[pav]

Down loaded my local councils application form and shows various boxes to tick.

Please tick all below that apply to you:

£ Age eligible and over from 6th April 2010 the age of eligibility for concessionary travel for women will be pension age and for men it will be the pensionable age of a woman born on the same day. Visit the councils web site for further details or you can call.

£ Registered blind or partially sighted

£ Registered profoundly or severely deaf and/or without speech

£ Someone who does not have arms or has long term loss of the use of both arms

£ Someone who has a disability or injury which has substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to walk

£ Someone who has a learning disability, that is, a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind, which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning

£ In receipt of a letter from the Department of Transport withdrawing or refusing a driving licence on medical grounds and that it is not due to drug or alcohol abuse/dependency

£ In receipt of a letter from your Doctor stating what your medical condition is and that it is not due to drug or alcohol abuse/dependency.

£ In possession of a disabled persons parking badge (Blue Badge)

Receive one of the following benefits:

£ Disability Living Allowance with Mobility component at Higher Rate

£ Personal Independent Payment (PIP) 8 points or more of the “moving around” and/or “communicating verbally” activities

£ Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit or reduced earning allowance

£ War Pensioners Mobility Supplement (WPMS)

£ Carers Allowance in payment to your carer. (Award of this entitles your companion/carer to travel with you. This is required in addition to any of the above and on its own does not merit award of the travel pass.)

 

[AJLang]

Thanks very much Pav

 

[robert@fm]

Oh goodness Amanda, I feel your pain; I went through this in 2012, when Lambeth (the Cop-out Council) gave advanced warning that they were cutting costs by withdrawing all travel passes for disabilities not covered by the criteria, such as mental health disorders (I had got my pass because I suffer depression and anxiety). Fortunately I had a friend to help me with my re-application (I reckoned I qualified for a pass on the "reduced mobility" and "impaired fitness on medical grounds other than substance abuse" criteria). I finally got it (entitling me to free bus travel in England, not just London as my previous pass did) after a year of anxious waiting.

 

[AJLang]

Thank you Robert. I'm so sorry to hear that you had to go through all of that hassle to get your bus pass. Looking at the rules I can still legally drive - although I think that for me to do so with my eyes as they are would be completely stupid and unsafe. Plus added to that that the optician told me on Monday not to drive until I've been to Moorfields. As the vision has gone from 6/6 to 6/10 in my relatively good eye I will just have to wait until the vision is worse than 6/12 and then apply. But obviously I'm hoping that it won't get worse...