Group 2 licence refused

[trophywench]

What date did the new regulation you mention come in, then?

Everything changes very often - eg what folk have to do to get a passport for the first time these days. Daughter number 2 has never had one before and despite having photo evidence of who she says she is in the form of the driving licence she's held since she was 17, she still needed to borrow her father's original birth certificate for one of her children even though a couple of months earlier she only needed dads passport number! Both her adult daughters have had to traipse into the centre of Birmingham (which neither had ever visited in their lives before) and find the Passport Office (which I didn't know we even had) so I couldn't tell them eg it's where Lewis's used to be, opposite Greys, LOL

Good job she has the kind of Dad who keeps things, issued in 1948, isn't it?

 

[OneNil]

I don't know when it came in - that's the point. All I know is at the last medical they wanted to see readings relevant to driving, this time they expected to see at least two on days I wasn't working as well.

 

[MikeyBikey]

Unfortunately changes are never disseminated very well. My original motorcycle and car licences went through to 70. To one of the questions (forget which one as over half a century I replied "No, but I am a diabetic on insulin". When I found out about the three year licence in 1984 I applied for one. I really feared for a while that I would lose my licence and even be prosecuted. When I spoke with someone on the phone they said "Didn't you read it in Balance?" Well no, although I received it I no longer read it as there seemed endless famous overweight/obese Type IIs featured. Some years later I had a similar shock when on renewal my C1 and D entitlements were removed!

When they changed the MOT a couple of years back they at least publicised it.

 

[trophywench]

Well diabetes news is disseminated in the diabetes 'press' cos if you ain't got diabetes you wouldn't be at all interested, would you?

I've never been interested in Engineering news meself cos it's of small interest to an insurance wallah. There again - how interested would you be at a change in Employers Liability Law?

 

[MikeyBikey]

I wonder what the percentage of diabetics reading Balance is? Probably quite low!

 

[trophywench]

Well getting back to my original point - if a person simply does not bother informing themselves and keeping being informed about how they can stay legal when driving - then they have only themselves to blame.

You appear to be simply looking for excuses. Ignorance of the Law is no defence. The DVLA police this particular Law.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Well getting back to my original point - if a person simply does not bother informing themselves and keeping being informed about how they can stay legal when driving - then they have only themselves to blame.

You appear to be simply looking for excuses. Ignorance of the Law is no defence. The DVLA police this particular Law.

I think that's a tiny bit unfair TW. While I know that claiming ignorance of the law is no defence (otherwise how could anyone ever be convicted of anything)... but if you *have* made yourself aware of the regulations regarding driving, and abide by those regulations I think it's entirely reasonable to expect some sort effort to be made to notification the public at large (or the affected population), when those regulations change.

I know my clinic always ask me about driving every year, and make sure I'm up to date. Similarly there was a bit of 'buzz' when CGM/Libre devices became usable for BG readings instead of fingerstick-only (though you still need to carry a fingerstick meter with you).

If the onus was always on the individual to be fully informed about changes in every regulation, and no effort was ever made by any official body to share changes and updates in regulations for absolutely everything in life (pension age... transport... travel... legal limits... required frequency of gas boiler servicing... copyright requirements/duration for streamed music and recorded TV programmes... food hygiene when offering food to others...), I'm not sure I'd have time to do much else!

I fully accept that there is a important amount of personal responsibility to keep yourself up to day, but I would certainly expect the government and associated agencies to at lease play their part in making sure important changes are properly communicated.

 

[trophywench]

Perhaps we should actually ask @Diabetes UK when they were made aware of the changes and publicised them?

It doesn't affect normal T1s though since we always have to test our BG multiple times a day whether driving or not, whereas a good many T2s not on medication/only on Metformin, don't test as a matter of course nor are they encouraged to do so.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Ithink that's a tiny bit unfair TW. While I know that claiming ignorance of the law is no defence (otherwise how could anyone ever be convicted of anything)... but if you *have* made yourself aware of the regulations regarding driving, and abide by those regulations I think it's entirely reasonable to expect some sort effort to be made to notification the public at large (or the affected population), when those regulations change.

When we reapply for our licence or notify the DVLA that we have diabetes all the info regarding the law is sent with the application form. The info is widely available on the net as well.

Personally if I were applying for something as lethal as a driving licence I would make sure I was well aware of the requirements for obtaining and keeping that licence. Phones have been invented as well so no reason not to ring DVLA for clarification/updates.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

When we reapply for our licence or notify the DVLA that we have diabetes all the info regarding the law is sent with the application form. The info is widely available on the net as well.

Personally if I were applying for something as lethal as a driving licence I would make sure I was well aware of the requirements for obtaining and keeping that licence. Phones have been invented as well so no reason not to ring DVLA for clarification/updates.

I’ll leave it to the earlier poster to explain what they meant by the regulations changing and those changes not being communicated. Perhaps it was the time during the 3 years between license updates?

 

[Robin]

I’ll leave it to the earlier poster to explain what they meant by the regulations changing and those changes not being communicated. Perhaps it was the time during the 3 years between license updates?

I can remember getting my 3 yearly renewal forms at one point,reading the guidance notes, and realising that there were new EU regulations.(they came in in 2011, I think). Testing every two hours was new to me. My diabetes nurse hadn’t drawn my attention to them, it was before I'd discovered this forum, and I hadn’t seen anything in the press. I don’t think I’d broken the law, because my husband always drove the long trips at the time, but I don’t know where I would have found the information between renewals, even if I'd thought to look for them.

 

[MikeyBikey]

The DVLA know who has a restricted licence and normally send out renewal applications in good time. Surely if there is a change in legislation for the person's condition a mailshot could be sent out.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

The DVLA know who has a restricted licence and normally send out renewal applications in good time. Surely if there is a change in legislation for the person's condition a mailshot could be sent out.

Yes, I’m sure it would be possible. But I’m not sure it happens. As an example, I heard about the updates to Libre/CGM readings being acceptable via social media channels. I don’t ever remember getting an official update directly from the DVLA. Which is a bit of a shame really.