Sleep Apnea & Driving license

Werewolf said:
My father had major eye issues and was on a restricted/short licence from about 40, he actually gave his licence up at about 60 because in his words "I didn't want to be like Sam*" who was our slightly older neighbour who was driving against doctors advice and IIRC had something like 5 minor accidents in a couple of years (not to mention driving at about 15mph in 30 limits).
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People might disagree but I reported my grandfather (in his 90s) as he refused to give up driving but was an absolute danger to himself and others. Paid no attention to other road users, junctions etc. I did it anonymously so that he wouldn't know and the DVSA called him in for assessment via ROSPa. He didn't even get through the basic cognitive tests so they revoked his licence on the spot.
 
It's going to be a real struggle with the wife and kids if they do take it away.
Will have to start cycling for my own transport which is fine. However getting the boys to school will be the biggest issue. My wife goes to work before they can be delivered to school.
May have to get a regular uber haha
 
Diagro said:
I slept on it.
Realised that you all made good points.
So I filled in the form.

I did however add that I have an NHS approved CPAP on its way and will have a letter from the GP made available to them if required to show that the condition is managed. Who knows if they will read that bit...
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Good move, I think you've done the right thing.
 
Diagro said:
It's going to be a real struggle with the wife and kids if they do take it away.
Will have to start cycling for my own transport which is fine. However getting the boys to school will be the biggest issue. My wife goes to work before they can be delivered to school.
May have to get a regular uber haha
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If they do take it away you will have to make adjustments to how you do things, not great but look at the alternative fines, losing your license for longer, possible prosecution,
 
It sucks that modern life is built around cars now. Even though it isn't as bad as US suburbia, it can be still be very challenging living without your own car, but at least possible in a lot of cases.

Diagro said:
It's going to be a real struggle with the wife and kids if they do take it away.
Will have to start cycling for my own transport which is fine. However getting the boys to school will be the biggest issue. My wife goes to work before they can be delivered to school.
May have to get a regular uber haha
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If they are primary school age, then you could chuck them in a cargo bike, if secondary school then tell them to get the bus/cycle!


Well done for doing the right thing and informing the DVLA.
 
Diagro said:
It's going to be a real struggle with the wife and kids if they do take it away.
Will have to start cycling for my own transport which is fine. However getting the boys to school will be the biggest issue. My wife goes to work before they can be delivered to school.
May have to get a regular uber haha
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I think some of the people responding to you initially didn't put themselves in the position of having their own licence revoked. Depending on your location, circumstances and career it varies from a bit of a pain to life changing.

Sounds like you've made the most sensible decision. Honestly, I'd probably have thought long and hard about the sequence of events and timing before rushing to inform the DVLA as well.

Reading some of the comments I do wonder if people read the words sleep apnea and processed it in their head as narcolepsy...
 
Diagro said:
Yo,

Just been diagnosed with a pretty bad case of Sleep Apnea. Need a CPAP etc.

Been told (Advised) i need to tell the DVLA... when I enquired what will happen, the doctor said they would very likely revoke my License based on my test results. Only to be re-instated when i have a CPAP machine and have shown positive results... (3 months wait for an appointment... 6 months for the machine...)

My question.. has anyone else been diagnosed with this? And did you bother advising the DVLA?

I simply cannot have my license revoked... I'd likely lose my job and other personal family issues would arise.

(By the way, I'm not tired all the time, nore do I fall asleep driving)
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my ex had a similar problem with epilepsy, she was a nurse and would have lost her job / licence had she mentioned she had had some fits that she kept quiet. I didnt know enough about her circumstances (it was a short fling) but she said she always knew hours in advance if she was likely to have a fit so was able to safely work around it..... but she would still have been in trouble had people found out she was having them and not reporting it.

i am not gonna comment on what i would do, it is easy when i do not have to walk a mile in your shoes BUT if you are gonna keep quiet, personally i would ask the mods to delete this thread. maybe its tinfoil hatty of me but if i was going to knowingly do something which may invalidate my insurance and get me bought up on charges, i would absolutely not want a record of me chatting about it on a public forum.

it does underline the problem we have at the moment however with everything getting so long to get sorted........ what should take weeks is taking months.

edit seems like you already are getting it sorted, i think you are doing the right thing

btw i have not read whole thread but depending on your job (ie wont work if you are a van driver) if you do lose your licence for a short while the company you work for will be under a lot of pressure to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate you (my wife is a manager in a lab and has someone who has some issues and she has to be really really careful about what she can and cant ask of her member of staff due to reasonable adjustments.

good luck!.
 
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lordrobs said:
I think some of the people responding to you initially didn't put themselves in the position of having their own licence revoked. Depending on your location, circumstances and career it varies from a bit of a pain to life changing.

Sounds like you've made the most sensible decision. Honestly, I'd probably have thought long and hard about the sequence of events and timing before rushing to inform the DVLA as well.

Reading some of the comments I do wonder if people read the words sleep apnea and processed it in their head as narcolepsy...
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Not being funny about this, as it has happened to me, but a driving licence is a privilege not a right, this can apply to the person who has been caught drink driving and says it would mean I lose my job(if you can't do the time don't do the crime so to speak)
 
Kudos to the OP for doing the "correct" thing and notifying the DVLA, however I can certainly understand and sympathise, especially when the DVLA guidelines themselves state "confirmed moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), with excessive sleepiness".

I'm fairly confident there are many drivers on the road who don't have a notifiable condition who get less sleep than/are more tired than the OP (as mentioned in post #8, anyone with a young baby child probably falls into that category!)

tonys said:
Not being funny about this, as it has happened to me, but a driving licence is a privilege not a right, this can apply to the person who has been caught drink driving and says it would mean I lose my job(if you can't do the time don't do the crime so to speak)
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Not really a fair comparison; you choose to drink & drive, nobody chooses to suffering from something like sleep apnea.
 
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Wouldn't have been so bad in the old days when bus services were useful and there were a lot more local railways.

But living out of town, or having to commute to out of town for work would be near impossible without a car.
 
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lordrobs said:
I think some of the people responding to you initially didn't put themselves in the position of having their own licence revoked. Depending on your location, circumstances and career it varies from a bit of a pain to life changing.

Sounds like you've made the most sensible decision. Honestly, I'd probably have thought long and hard about the sequence of events and timing before rushing to inform the DVLA as well.

Reading some of the comments I do wonder if people read the words sleep apnea and processed it in their head as narcolepsy...
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So given I was the first person to respond, i can assure you that I did not mis-interpret sleep apnea as narcolepsy given that both my Dad and my brother have it and use CPAPs and I also suffer with it, however not to the extent of needing a CPAP (I only need to sleep with an adjustment device in my mouth), my Dad also suffers with epilepsy so also has to ensure the DVLA are updated with that. I myself around 8 years ago had a seizure and was advised I would need to notify the DVLA which I promptly did and stopped driving until the reason for the seizure was confirmed.

Regardless of the impact it can have on life having to give up driving for a period of time, the fact remains that if you have a DVLA notifiable condition you MUST notify the DVLA of it otherwise you open yourself up to even worse issues. Given I have a DVLA notifiable condition and also family members with it, I know full well the impact it can have, yet would have 0 qualms in reporting someone who has not notified them themselves and have also done when a neighbour had major brain surgery that meant she shouldn't have been driving as the surgery meant she had huge cognitive issues and massively delayed reactions

I'm glad OP has decided to do the right thing.
 
I was told to notify them and it was easy enough to do. Once done they said to keep driving and so on until a decision was made. Got a letter a week or so later to confirm a few details and then another few weeks later, I got one that basically said "You're fine as long as you carry on using the machine"
 
I'm so sorry to hear you going through this. I thought sleep apnea was a breathing issue while sleeping rather than unexpectedly falling asleep while driving (which is narcolepsy). I'm not sure why this would cause the DVLA to revoke your licence?

I had sleep apnea for a few months. It was horrible. I would wake up in the middle of the night unable to breath and had to really fight to start breathing again. I would sit upright but just couldn't will my lungs to breath in and out. I think it was due to stress because it went away eventually and hasn't returned. It's horrible though as it crosses your mind that you're never going to take another breath.
 
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Kenai said:
It's the potential 'excessive sleepiness' that interrupted sleep can cause that they're interested in - https://www.gov.uk/excessive-sleepiness-and-driving
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Which seems a bit daft really. I've had "excessive sleepiness" before quite a few times. Almost certainly child related. I don't recall needing to inform the DVLA when my partner gave birth :cry:

For medical conditions with a sudden onset with no warnings, sure, but surely driving tired is driving tired, regardless of the reason for that tiredness?
 
Diagro said:
I slept on it.
Realised that you all made good points.
So I filled in the form.

I did however add that I have an NHS approved CPAP on its way and will have a letter from the GP made available to them if required to show that the condition is managed. Who knows if they will read that bit...
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Right decision undoubtedly.

It'll be a pain for a while , nowhere near the pain were you to ignore it and things went south.

Good on you, it'll fall together. :)
Haze said:
Nice to see OP does not give a **** he could kill someone...
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Nice to see you've clearly decided to comment without reading the thread through. :p
 
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