Motoring Discussion > Medical Conditions Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Bromptonaut Replies: 10

 Medical Conditions - Bromptonaut
Driver jailed and disqualified for driving with undisclosed diabetes and while hypoglaecemic.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22596609

After several contacts with other cars he finally impaled a ped against railings.
 Medical Conditions - retgwte
the guy is an idiot.
SWMBO is insulin dependant diabetic, its declared to DVLA, there are no major issues. they put her on a 3 year licence, and she needs an eye test every 3 years. its declared to the insurance company and there is no impact on premium.
she checks her blood sugar before setting off.
its all rather routine, why would you bother not declaring it?
 Medical Conditions - Slidingpillar
Prosecutor Kevin Barry said the father-of-two had had his blood tested by a nurse that morning but had given her false information about his blood sugar levels. from article

Suspect there was rather more to this. You don't get jail for genuinely not knowing of a condition, but here I suspect he'd come to the correct diagnosis and was hindering the medical profession from doing its job properly. A rather fuller court report would probably be a lot clearer.
 Medical Conditions - Dave
I wonder what will happen if someone like me, with a UK licence but living elsewhere in Europe, has a condition that should be revealed to the licencing authorities. The doctor can't find out about my licence and inform the swedish licence people, although they in turn may contact DVLA. But then they don't know my current address, or if in fact it is actually me they've been informed about.
 Medical Conditions - rtj70
>> I wonder what will happen if someone like me, with a UK licence but living elsewhere in Europe...

Surely at some point you need a driving licence from the country you are living in? Sweden in your case?

You might not need to swap it - but might find it difficult renewing the photo licence for a UK licence when it expires.

Isn't it free to swap over licences?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 21 May 13 at 23:50
 Medical Conditions - Dave
>> >> I wonder what will happen if someone like me, with a UK licence but
>> living elsewhere in Europe...
>>
>> Surely at some point you need a driving licence from the country you are living
>> in? Sweden in your case?
>>
>> You might not need to swap it - but might find it difficult renewing the
>> photo licence for a UK licence when it expires.
>>
>> Isn't it free to swap over licences?
>>

It only needs swapping when the original is due for renewal, in my case when I'm 70 as it's the old paper licence. It's chargeable, of course.

Another good reason not to change here is they use the picture to identify who was driving when flashed by a speed camera. Not that I speed much, but sometimes it happens. Here, they have to prove who was driving, not the other way around. If they can't find a picture on the licence or passport database they send a letter to the registered owner asking if you wouldn't mind telling them who was driving. But there is no obligation to tell them.
 Medical Conditions - Lygonos
>>The doctor can't find out about my licence and inform the swedish licence people, although they in turn may contact DVLA

The doctor would only inform DVLA if he/she knew you hadn't informed them, and were not going to inform them (never heard that happen for diabetes, but certainly have for epilepsy).

The onus is on the patient to inform - if they choose not to they risk what happened to this chump.

Having a hypo is unlikely unless you use insulin (in which case you are meant to check glucose level before driving), or take a tablet like gliclazide (or perhaps pioglitazone). Diet-controlled, and metformin tend not to cause hypos.

If you do take a hypo while driving and are stopped by the Police the penalty is basically the same as drink-driving as far as I am aware.
 Medical Conditions - Telb
As I understand it for type 2 diabetes (metformin and/or diet controlled) there's no need to inform DVLA, only your insurance company. That's according to my diabetes nurse. Probably because of the unlikelihood of a hypo - although if you have had a hypo I think you do need to tell them. T1 is different of course.
 Medical Conditions - VxFan
>> As I understand it for type 2 diabetes (metformin and/or diet controlled) there's no need to inform DVLA, only your insurance company. That's according to my diabetes nurse.

Whereas my doctor said I had to, which I did and received acknowledgment back from DVLA thanking me for notifying them and confirming that I was ok to continue driving.

EDIT: the definitive answer

www.diabetes.co.uk/driving-with-diabetes.html

No matter how your diabetes is treated, you must by law inform your insurance company that you have diabetes.

If your diabetes is treated with insulin, you must inform the DVLA.

If you are applying for a driving licence for the first time, and your diabetes is treated with tablets or insulin, you also must inform the DVLA.

You do not need to tell the DVLA if you are treated by diet alone or by tablets that do not bring on hypoglycemia. However, if you change from tablets to insulin treatment, then they must be informed.

Some more info here too:- www.gov.uk/diabetes-driving



Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 22 May 13 at 10:20
 Medical Conditions - retgwte
considering the poor note taking and attitude of nhs docs and nurses who work in this area i wouldnt trust any of them in court
 Medical Conditions - MD
or Theatre.
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