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Liverpool Echo

World

Jacob Rawley & Dan Haygarth

DVLA warning over £1,000 fine if drivers don't declare 112 conditions

DVLA Brain Arrhythmia Disease

Drivers could risk a hefty fine if they don't report certain health conditions to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).

There are 112 conditions which drivers must declare. Failure to do so could land drivers with a fine of up to £1,000, or they could be forced to surrender their licence. If an undeclared condition leads to an accident, drivers could be prosecuted.

The DVLA has recently altered the process to declare a medical condition. Now, more medical professionals can carry out medical questionnaires. Previously, only doctors could do so, but professionals such as opticians and specialist nurses can do so.

This should make it easier for drivers to declare their conditions when applying for a licence or when renewing .If you develop a condition that needs to be declared to the DVLA, you will have to fill in certain forms or questionnaires which will depend on your condition, reports the Daily Record.

The agency will assess your situation and decide what the best next steps are. You may have to get a new driving licence, which could include a shorter licence - for one, two, three or five years and you may also need to fit your car with special controls to accommodate your condition.

In certain cases, where it is deemed that you are not able to drive safely, you will have to surrender your licence. If your medical condition isn't on the list, you can check on the government's A to Z list or fill out this questionnaire . You are also encouraged to check with your doctor if you're unsure.

The 112 conditions that drivers must inform the DVLA about

Agoraphobia

You must tell DVLA if agoraphobia affects your ability to drive safely.

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your agoraphobia will affect your driving.

Alcohol problems

You must tell DVLA if you have an alcohol problem.

Alzheimer’s disease

You must tell DVLA if you have Alzheimer’s disease.

Amputations

You must tell DVLA if you’ve had a limb amputated.

Angiomas or cavernomas

A cavernoma is a cluster of abnormal blood vessels, usually found in the brain and spinal cord. They're sometimes known as cavernous angiomas.

You must tell DVLA if you have angiomas or cavernomas.

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a long-term condition in which the spine and other areas of the body become inflamed.

You must tell DVLA if your ankylosing spondylitis affects your ability to drive safely.

Anxiety

You must tell DVLA if you experience anxiety and it affects your ability to drive safely.

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your anxiety will affect your driving.

Aortic aneurysm

You must tell DVLA if your aortic aneurysm is 6 centimetres or more in diameter despite treatment. You must not drive if your aortic aneurysm is 6.5 centimetres or more in diameter.

Ask your doctor or consultant if you’re not sure.

Arachnoid cyst

Arachnoid cysts are the most common type of brain cyst.

You must tell DVLA if you have an arachnoid cyst.

Arrhythmia

You must tell DVLA about your arrhythmia if one of the following applies:

you have distracting or disabling symptoms
your arrhythmia means you might not be able to safely stop or control a vehicle

Talk to your doctor if you’re not sure if your arrhythmia causes other symptoms that will affect your driving, or if you must tell DVLA about them.

You must tell DVLA if your arrhythmia affects your driving.

Arteriovenous malformation

You must tell DVLA if you have an arteriovenous malformation.

Arthritis

You must tell the DVLA if you use special controls for driving. Fill in form G1 and send it to DVLA. The address is on the form. Talk to your doctor if you’re not sure if your arthritis will affect your driving, or if you must tell DVLA about it.

Ataxia

Ataxia is a term for a group of disorders that affect co-ordination, balance and speech.

You must tell DVLA if you have ataxia (including Friedrich’s ataxia).

ADHD

You must tell DVLA if your attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or your ADHD medication affects your ability to drive safely.

AIDS

You must tell DVLA if you have AIDS.

Bipolar disorder (manic depression)

You must tell DVLA if you have bipolar disorder.

Blood clots

You must tell DVLA if you have a blood clot in the brain.

However, you don’t have to tell DVLA if you have a blood clot in your lung.

Blood pressure

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your blood pressure treatment will affect your driving.

You must tell DVLA about your condition if your treatment causes side effects that could affect your driving.

Brachial plexus injury

The brachial plexus is the network of nerves that sends signals from your spinal cord to your shoulder, arm and hand.

You must tell DVLA if you have a brachial plexus injury.

Brain abscess, cyst or encephalitis

You must tell DVLA if you have a brain abscess, cyst or encephalitis.

Brain aneurysm

You must tell DVLA if you have a brain aneurysm.

Brain haemorrhage

You must tell DVLA if you have a brain haemorrhage.

Traumatic brain injury

You must tell DVLA if you have a traumatic brain injury.

Brain tumour

You must tell DVLA if you have a brain tumour. You must also speak to your doctor, who might tell you to surrender your licence.

Broken limbs

You must tell DVLA if you’ll be unable to drive for more than 3 months because of a broken limb.

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure how long you’ll be unable to drive.

Brugada syndrome

Brugada syndrome is a rare but serious condition that affects the way electrical signals pass through the heart.

You must tell DVLA if you have Brugada syndrome.

Burr hole surgery

You must tell DVLA if you’ve had burr hole surgery to remove a clot from around your brain.

Cancer

You do not need to tell DVLA if you have cancer, unless:

you develop problems with your brain or nervous system
your doctor says you might not be fit to drive
you’re restricted to certain types of vehicles or vehicles that have been adapted for you
your medication causes side effects which could affect your driving

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your cancer will affect your driving.

Cataracts

You must tell DVLA about your eye condition if it affects both of your eyes. If you only have sight in one eye, you must tell DVLA if you have a condition affecting that eye.

Cataplexy

You must tell DVLA if you experience cataplexy.

Central venous thrombosis

You only need to tell DVLA if you’re still having problems 1 month after a central venous thrombosis.

Cerebral palsy

You must tell DVLA if you have cerebral palsy.

Cognitive problems

You must tell DVLA if you have cognitive problems.

Congenital heart disease

You must tell DVLA if you have congenital heart disease and have symptoms that affect safe driving (for example angina, palpitations, shortness of breath, or symptoms related to uncontrolled hypertension, heart failure or heart valve disease).

Fits, seizures or convulsions

You must tell DVLA if you have fits, seizures or convulsions.

Déjà vu

You must tell DVLA if you have seizures or epilepsy that cause déjà vu.

Defibrillators

You must tell DVLA if you have an implanted defibrillator, also known as an ‘ICD’ (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator).

Dementia

You must tell DVLA if you have dementia.

Depression

You must tell DVLA if your depression affects your ability to drive safely.

Diabetes

You need to tell DVLA if:

your insulin treatment lasts (or will last) over 3 months
you had gestational diabetes (diabetes associated with pregnancy) and your insulin treatment lasts over 3 months after the birth
you get disabling hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) - or a medical professional has told you that you’re at risk of developing it.

Diplopia (double vision)

You must tell DVLA if you have diplopia (double vision).

Dizziness or vertigo

You must tell DVLA if you experience dizziness that is sudden, disabling or recurrent.

Drug use

You must tell DVLA if you’ve used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs.

Eating disorder

You must tell DVLA if you have an eating disorder (for example anorexia nervosa) and it affects your ability to drive safely.

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your eating disorder will affect your driving.

Empyema (brain)

You must tell DVLA if you have a brain empyema.

Essential tremor

You must tell DVLA if your essential tremor affects your ability to drive safely.

Eye conditions

You must tell DVLA about your eye condition if it affects both of your eyes.

There are dozens of eye conditions that must be declared to DVLA, check the government's website to see if yours falls under the list.

If you only have sight in one eye, you must tell DVLA if you have a condition affecting that eye.

Guillain Barré syndrome

You must tell DVLA if you have Guillain Barré syndrome.

Head injury

You must tell DVLA if you have a serious head injury.

Heart attacks

You don’t need to tell DVLA if you’ve had a heart attack (myocardial infarction) or a heart, cardiac or coronary angioplasty.

However, you should stop driving for:

1 week if you had angioplasty, it was successful and you don’t need any more surgery
4 weeks if you had angioplasty after a heart attack but it wasn’t successful
4 weeks if you had a heart attack but didn’t have angioplasty

Check with your doctor to find out when it’s safe for you to start driving again.

Heart failure

You need to tell DVLA about your heart failure if you have symptoms and they:

affect your ability to drive safely
distract you when driving
happen when you’re not doing any activity (‘at rest’)

Heart palpitations

If you regularly have heart palpitations, which are heartbeats that suddenly become more noticeable and may feel like pounding, fluttering, or irregular beating, the DVLA requires you to inform them.

Other conditions may also need to be reported to the DVLA.

Hemianopia

You must tell DVLA if you have hemianopia, which is also called hemianopsia.

High blood pressure (hypertension)

You do not need to tell DVLA if you have high blood pressure.

You must stop driving if a doctor says you have malignant hypertension. You can drive again when both the following apply:

a doctor confirms that your condition is well controlled
your blood pressure is consistently below 180/110mmHg

Hodgkin’s lymphoma

You must tell DVLA if you have Hodgkin’s lymphoma and any of the following also apply:

you develop problems with your brain or nervous system
your doctor says you might not be fit to drive
you’re restricted to certain types of vehicles or vehicles that have been adapted for you
your medication causes side effects which could affect your driving

Huntington's disease

You must tell DVLA if you have Huntington’s disease and it causes any symptoms.

Hydrocephalus

You must tell DVLA if you have hydrocephalus with symptoms. Fill in form B1 and send it to DVLA. The address is on the form.

If you have hydrocephalus without symptoms, you do not need to tell DVLA about your condition.

Hypoglycaemia

You must tell DVLA if you have hypoglycaemia.

Hypoxic brain damage

You must tell DVLA about your hypoxic brain damage.

Intracerebral haemorrhage

You must tell DVLA if you’re still having problems a month after an intracerebral haemorrhage.

Korsakoff's syndrome

You must tell DVLA if you have Korsakoff’s syndrome.

Labyrinthitis

You must tell DVLA if you have labyrinthitis symptoms for 3 months or more.

Learning disabilities

You must tell DVLA if you have a learning disability.

You do not need to tell DVLA if you have learning difficulties, for example dyslexia.

Lewy body dementia

You must tell DVLA if you have Lewy body dementia.

Limb disability

You must tell DVLA if you have a limb disability.

Long QT syndrome

You must tell DVLA if you have Long QT syndrome.

Lung cancer

You must tell DVLA if you have lung cancer and any of the following apply:

you develop problems with your brain or nervous system
your doctor says you might not be fit to drive
you’re restricted to certain types of vehicles or vehicles that have been adapted for you
your medication causes side effects which could affect your driving

Lymphoma

You must tell DVLA about your lymphoma if:

you develop problems with your brain or nervous system
your doctor has expressed concerns about your fitness to drive
you can only drive a specially adapted vehicle or a certain type of vehicle
your medication causes side effects that might make it unsafe for you to drive

Marfan's syndrome

You must tell DVLA if you have Marfan’s syndrome.

Medulloblastoma

You must tell DVLA if you have a medulloblastoma.

Meningioma

You must tell DVLA you have meningioma if it affects your driving. Ask your doctor if you’re not sure.

Motor neurone disease

You must tell DVLA if you have motor neurone disease - also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Muscular dystrophy

You must tell DVLA if you have muscular dystrophy.

Myasthenia gravis

You must tell DVLA if you have myasthenia gravis.

Myoclonus

You must tell DVLA if you have myoclonus.

Narcolepsy

You must tell DVLA if you have narcolepsy.

Night blindness

You must tell DVLA if you have night blindness.

Obsessive compulsive disorder

You must tell DVLA if your obsessive compulsive disorder affects your driving.

Excessive sleepiness

Excessive sleepiness means that you have had difficulty concentrating and have found yourself falling asleep - for example while at work, watching television or when driving.

You must tell DVLA if you have:

confirmed moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), with excessive sleepiness
either narcolepsy or cataplexy, or both
any other sleep condition that has caused excessive sleepiness for at least 3 months - including suspected or confirmed mild OSAS

You must not drive until you’re free from excessive sleepiness or until your symptoms are under control and you’re strictly following any necessary treatment.

Optic atrophy

You must tell DVLA if you have optic atrophy.

Pacemakers

You must tell DVLA if you have been fitted with a pacemaker.

You do not need to tell DVLA if you have had a pacemaker battery change. This is also known as a ‘box’ change.

Paranoid schizophrenia

You must tell DVLA if you have paranoid schizophrenia.

Paraplegia

You must tell DVLA if you are paraplegic.

Parkinson’s disease

You must tell DVLA if you have Parkinson’s disease.

Peripheral neuropathy

You must tell DVLA if you have peripheral neuropathy.

Personality disorder

You must tell DVLA if you have a personality disorder and it affects your driving.

Pituitary tumour

You must tell DVLA if you have a pituitary tumour.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Ask your doctor if you’re not sure if your post traumatic stress disorder will affect your driving.

Psychosis

You must tell DVLA if you experience psychosis.

Psychotic depression

You must tell DVLA if you have psychotic depression.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension

You must tell DVLA if you have pulmonary arterial hypertension and you’re receiving treatment from an NHS specialist centre.

Severe memory problems

You must tell DVLA if you have severe memory problems.

Stroke

You only need to tell DVLA if you’re still having problems 1 month after the stroke.

Download the leaflet ‘Car or motorcycle drivers who have had a stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA)’ to find out if you need to tell DVLA about your stroke.

Surgery

You must tell DVLA if you’ve had an operation and you’re still unable to drive 3 months later.

This includes a caesarean section.

Syncope

If you suffer from blackouts, fainting (syncope), loss of consciousness and driving, you must inform the DVLA.

This applies to car, motorcycle, bus, coach and lorry drivers.

Seizures/epilepsy

You must tell DVLA if you have seizures or epilepsy that cause déjà vu.

Déjà vu is a neurological anomaly related to epileptic electrical discharge in the brain, creating a strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced has already been experienced in the past.

You should talk to your doctor if you’re not sure if your déjà vu is related to seizures or epilepsy.

Sleep apnoea

There are several sleep disorders that you should tell DVLA about, including confirmed moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), narcolepsy, cataplexy, and any other sleep condition that has caused excessive sleepiness for at least three months.

You should also notify them if you’re taking medication that has caused excessive sleepiness for three months.

Schizo-affective disorder

You must tell DVLA if you have a schizo-affective disorder.

Schizophrenia

You must tell DVLA if you have schizophrenia.

Scotoma

You must tell DVLA if you have scotoma.

Severe communication disorders

You must tell DVLA if your severe communication disorder affects your ability to drive safely.

Spinal conditions, injuries or spinal surgery

You must tell DVLA if you have a spinal condition or an injury to your spine.

Subarachnoid haemorrhage