The DVLA has been accused of “discriminating” against drivers who declare a medical condition, with some people left waiting months for their driving licence application to be processed.
One teenager said she had to put life plans on hold due to huge delays in getting her licence, and a HGV driver claims he lost his job after experiencing long waits.
Those with medical conditions are forced to use a manual paper system when applying for a driving licence, rather than using the quicker online service, because they have to declare their conditions.
Jennifer Kirchacz, 17, who lives in Windygates, Fife, has epilepsy and says she sent off for her licence back in July 2021.
She believes she meets the criteria for a licence but claims it took the DVLA seven months to get back to her following her initial application, only to say further information was needed.
Jennifer had been due to start a dog grooming course but she was relying on travelling by car and has had to put those plans on hold.
Ms Kirchacz said: "It's just quite upsetting. I don't really find it fair because all my friends are now driving and a few of them have passed.
"I applied actually before all of them pretty much, all their birthdays are after mine, and they're all driving. I want to get started with my career. It's pretty rubbish."
Her mum, Julie Brownlie, said: "Definitely it's discrimination. Her friends who don't have a disability, they have all got their licences back."
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She added: "I have no issue that they want to check the information is correct, I'm all for them checking with the specialists, but they need to do it in timely way and not discriminate against people who have a condition.
"I can understand a few days longer for processing, but to wait seven months to send a form that needs to be filled in - that's just ridiculous."
James Porterfield, 60, lives in Leslie, Fife, and says he lost his regular job working as an HGV driver because of a long wait for the DVLA to sort his application.
After sending off his medical forms, he says it took the DVLA five months to respond, only to ask for more information.
During that time he said he tried to get the issue resolved, including one day when he spent six hours on the phone to the DVLA.
"It's pretty tough. I'm 60 years old, I've been working since I left school at 16. I've never been out of work in my life," he said.
"There's loads of people that I know that are having the same issues".
He added: "I'm very angry with them (the DVLA). I know it's been tough through Covid for everybody, but it's starting to affect people's jobs, which affects their life."
"Five months to say we need the doctor to confirm this - it's taken them five months to do that", he said, adding "I've lost my job through it."
Both cases are examples of a wider issue, according to SNP MP Peter Grant.
He described it as "gross discrimination" in the service the DVLA is providing to people who declare a medical condition.
Although he has not suggested this is intentional, the MP warned the Government faces a "massive compensation bill if they do not get their act together pronto".
Mr Grant added: "The crux of the issue is that DVLA are failing to provide the service that they are supposed to be providing to a significant minority of the population. It's utterly indefensible.
"The gap in quality of service between two groups within the population is so vast as to be utterly unacceptable."
Almost one million motorists are still waiting for their new licences to be processed because of a backlog the DVLA blames on Covid, according to figures released last week.
Figures published by the Commons transport committee show 898, 673 applicants have been left without a replacement licence, 254,000 of whom lodged submissions more than ten weeks ago.
The DVLA told the PA news agency that it does not comment on individual cases.
The "vast majority" of applicants waiting 10 weeks or more have a medical condition that must be investigated, it said. Successful online applicants receive their licence within days.
The DVLA acknowledges paper application services currently have longer waiting times and it says the service is expected to recover by the end of May.
Medical services are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels by September.
A spokesperson said: “Our online services are working as normal and without delay. We handle millions of transactions every year and are currently issuing 200,000 driving licences each week.
"However where we require additional information, such as from a driver’s doctor or where we need to refer the driver for an assessment, we would be wholly reliant on receiving this information before a decision can be made.
“Once a driver has submitted their application, they may be able to continue to drive while we are processing it, provided they have not been told by their doctor or optician they should not drive.
"We have recruited more staff, have increased overtime and opened new customer service centres in Swansea and Birmingham to help reduce waiting times for customers.”
