DVLA rebuffs ombudsman’s compensation call

20 Oct 16

The DVLA has rejected an ombudsman’s suggestion that it financially compensate people who have wrongly had their driving licences revoked.

A report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman published yesterday highlights eight cases in which people with complex medical conditions were unfairly left without driving licences, sometimes for several years. This was a result of flawed decisions, severe delays and poor communication, the ombudsman said.

In the review, the PHSO found that DVLA is not meeting its obligations to make fair and safe licensing decisions. Among the findings are that fitness to drive tests are not suitable and do not properly consider all the evidence, such as doctors’ reports.

Parliamentary and health service ombudsman Julie Mellor, said: “People’s lives have been put on hold for years because of severe delays and flawed decisions by the DVLA, leading people to lose their jobs, causing stress, worry and isolation.”

Mellor noted the DVLA had accepted the report’s findings and taken steps to address some of the failings, such as producing a new guide for medical professionals and improving its complaint handling and communications.

However, it had rejected two recommendations: that it put in place arrangements for people not included in the report, including, where appropriate, financial compensation; and that it improve the way it communicates with licence applicants and medical professionals and produce robust standards to fairly assess people with medical conditions.

Mellor said further action was needed “to make the assessments of fitness to drive more robust, to prevent others from suffering the same injustice in the future.”

President of the Automobile Association, Edmund King, said that a driving licence was a “lifeline” for many people. He said: “The licence enables mobility, independence, employment and freedom.”

He added that it was essential that those people fit to drive were able to do so, while those who are unfit should not be allowed to put their own lives and the lives of others at risk.

The cases examined by the ombudsman service included that of a professional lorry driver who had suffered a heart attack. He had to wait 17 months to reverse a decision to remove his licence, despite being symptom-free, losing his business in the process.

In another, DVLA wrongly interpreted a letter from a GP explaining a patient suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome and that this might cause him to be late submitting paperwork. DVLA wrongly assumed this was confirmation of a medical condition affecting his ability to drive, and incorrectly removed his licence a few days after a receiving the letter.

DVLA chief executive Oliver Morley said: “We are sorry for the way we handled the customers’ cases highlighted in the report.

“These eight very complex cases, however, date back to 2009 and since then the vast majority of the four million cases we’ve handled have been dealt with swiftly and correctly.

“We have already made a number of improvements including more effective ways of managing cases, taking on more staff and introduced a new online service where drivers can tell us about their medical conditions.”

According to the DVLA, around 600,000 medical cases are processed every year, of which a significant number are complex and require further investigation. The agency added that the medical standards for driving are set out in law, informed by expert medical advice, and that all decisions regarding driver licensing are underpinned by this legislation.

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