3
5. Renewing or reapplying for your driving licence
You must renew your driving licence if you have been issued with a short period driving licence. The DVLA will send
you a renewal application 90 days before the licence is due to expire.
After surrendering or having revoked your licence by DVLA you should reapply for your licence eight weeks before
the end of the period of time your licence was revoked for. Check with your doctor that you can meet the medical
standards of fitness to drive before you re-apply. You need to fill in a D1 form and a medical questionnaire relevant
to your condition. You can get the form from DVLA website or Post Office.
There are different rules for when you can drive again depending on if your licence was voluntarily surrendered, or if
it was revoked or refused for medical reasons (please check with the DVLA and your doctor).
6. What if I don’t agree with DVLA decision?
You can ask the DVLA to review their decision when you think:
• You have a wrong diagnosis.
• There is a misunderstanding of your case.
• There has been an administrative error.
If your request for a review wasn’t successful, you may decide to make a formal appeal. The DVLA should send you
details of the appeals process at the time of the licence decision.
If you live in England and Wales you need to appeal to the local Magistrates Courts six months from the date of
DVLA’s decision. If you live in Northern Ireland you need to appeal to your local clerk of petty sessions, three months
from the date of the decision. If you live in Scotland you need to appeal to the Sheriff Court, 21 days from the date of
the decision.
7. Epilepsy and driving
Epilepsy is a condition that you need to tell the DVLA about it. If you have seizures, the DVLA recommends that you
stop driving, tell the DVLA and surrender your driving licence.
If you have awake seizures with losing consciousness, your licence will be taken away. You can reapply if you
haven’t had a seizure for at least a year.
If you have awake seizures without losing consciousness the DVLA needs a full description of these seizures before
making a decision. They may allow you to drive if you experienced only these types of seizures in the last 12 months
and you haven’t ever had any other type of seizures. But you must wait for their decision before you resume driving.
If you had asleep seizures only, you may still qualify for a licence if it’s been 12 months or more since your first
seizure. Until you hear from the DVLA you must stop driving. If you had awake seizures in the past, but for the past
three years you had only asleep seizures, you may be allowed to drive.
If you experience both asleep and awake seizures the law for awake seizures applies.
If you have only suffered from a one-off seizure while awake and lost consciousness, you will qualify for a driving
licence if you have been free from further attacks for a six month period, provided there are no further clinical
factors or investigations that may suggest an unacceptably high risk of a further seizure occurring and the DVLA is
satisfied that as a driver you are not likely to be a source of danger to the public.
If you live in England, Wales and Scotland and you are withdrawing your anti-epileptic drugs the DVLA recommends
that for your safety and that of others, you should stop driving during the period of drug withdrawal and for six