Three-year validity and licence delays
20. Mr O submitted his D2 and D4 forms and a passport photo which was stamped as received by DVLA on 18 October 2021. It was added to its system on 21 December 2021.
21. The Drivers Medical Group (DMG) at DVLA wrote to Mr O on 10 January 2022 and requested that he complete a Sleep Medical questionnaire and a Diabetes management questionnaire. It also requested he take an eye test at a DVLA approved optician. Mr O told us he believes that DVLA lost the medical information he had previously provided. We have not seen any evidence that is the case.
22. We see that Mr O had explained in his D4 that he had Type 2 diabetes controlled by tablets, a condition he had previously informed DVLA about in prior applications. He had also been diagnosed with sleep apnoea and an issue noted in his D4 relating to his right eye. These led to the questionnaires being issued to gather more evidence.DVLA received the returned questionnaires on 17 January 2022 and the optician supplied DVLA with the results of the eye test on 20 January 2022.
23. In the letter to Mr O dated 29 January 2022, the DMG confirmed it had completed its medical checks and that his licence would be issued within two weeks. It went on to say:
24. ‘If you disagree with the issue of a medical licence you may wish to lodge an appeal with your local Magistrates’ Court within 6 months of the date of this letter if you live in England or Wales. If you live in Scotland, you can lodge an appeal at your local Sheriff Court within 21 days of the date of this letter’.
25. Mr O did not lodge an appeal.
26. The DMG letter also provided additional information about why a medical review licence was issued and why sometimes it would be issued for a period less than the typical five years. This could be one, two or three years. It said:‘… for reasons of general road safety it is necessary to make regular checks to ensure that your health does not affect your ability to drive buses and or lorries safely.
All drivers who suffer from a medical condition which might in the future affect their ability to drive safely, or who has at some time suffered from such a condition which might recur, must have regular checks.’
27. The DVLA applies the provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (Sec 92) when considering possible impairments to driving when issuing a licence. It created a Fitness to Drive Framework and issues revisions of the Assessing Fitness to Drive – a Guide for Medical Professionals (the Guide) approximately every 12 months.
28. Within the Guide, the section that deals with diabetes says that for individuals who wish to drive a lorry (or bus – the Group 2 entitlement) and who manage their diabetes using tablets that carry a hypoglycaemia risk (low blood sugar), specific criteria apply. If they meet these criteria then they will be issued a licence, but it will be limited to a period of one, two or three years. If the individual does not meet the criteria, then a licence will not be issued.
29. Mr O is prescribed Gliclazide which is from a group called Sulphonylureas (drugs that increase insulin production – BNF Online). The Guide explains these drugs meet the above criteria.
30. The above shows that DVLA followed the appropriate guidance when issuing Mr O with the three-year licence. While we appreciate this is not the outcome Mr O sought, we hope it offers him reassurance. We therefore find no indications of maladministration in this aspect of the complaint.
31. We will now consider the claimed delays in processing his application.
32. When Mr O submitted his D4 in July 2021 he expected that he would have his licence within six weeks. This was the target prior to March 2020 for applications on which a decision could be made based on the supplied information, for example in the D2 and the D4.
33. When DVLA received Mr O’s D4 medical form to renew his driving licence on 30 July 2021, it did not process it until 12 October 2021. While we have seen evidence that Mr O’s initial submission was incomplete (it lacked a completed D2), we might expect that it would have told him within six weeks that that was the case. However, there were mitigating circumstances given the impacts of Covid 19 on the operation of the organisation.
34. The NAO report of November 2022 into the backlog at DVLA of licence applications during 2020 and 2021 said:
‘However, since March 2020, the DVLA has been less able to process paper-based driving licence applications resulting in longer than normal processing times and a backlog of applications, which peaked at 1.1 million in September 2021. Of the 24.3 million applications DVLA processed between April 2020 and September 2022, 3.3 million took longer than normal.
Applications from drivers with medical conditions, which are predominantly paper based, are still taking longer to process than expected and a backlog of these applications remains. The DVLA normally expects to make 90% of medical licensing decisions within 90 working days but suspended this target from April 2020’.
35. Based on these mitigating circumstances, we cannot say that there was a failing on the part of DVLA to not respond to Mr O within six weeks of receiving his D4. We also do not consider that taking just over ten weeks to provide a response is unreasonable given the circumstances and there is no obvious mishandling of his application that we might consider shows maladministration.
36. After it processed the medical form, it wrote the same day and asked Mr O to provide a D2 application form and a photo. The DVLA website says that when you are renewing a lorry or bus licence, and you are 45 or over, the following should happen:‘DVLA will send you 2 forms 56 days before your driving licence runs out.
You’ll get: • an ‘application for renewal of lorry and bus entitlement’ (D47P) • a ‘medical examination report’ form (D4)’
37. The DVLA website says that you can, ‘Order the D2/D4 pack if you have not received forms D47P and D4 in the post’ which confirms that either a D47P or a D2 form needs to accompany the D4 when applying for a licence renewal.
38. Mr O asked why his digital passport photo could not be used. Many licence holders can have DVLA use their digitally stored passport photo when renewing their licence online. On the DVLA webpage, ‘Change the photo on your driving licence,’ it says:‘You cannot renew your driving licence online if: • your name or title has changed since you got your current driving licence • you have a 5-year bus or lorry licence If you cannot use the online service, you can apply by post.’
39. DVLA explained in its letter to Mr O of 5 April 2022 that its arrangement with HM Passport Office is only applicable for online applications.
40. As Mr O applied for a renewal by post, the service to renew using an existing passport photo was not available to him. He also had applied for a five-year lorry licence. This means DVLA acted in line with its guidance when it asked him to send a photo by post.
41. In respect of the period taken from when Mr O submitted his D2 and D4 to the issue of his licence, that period was from 18 October 2021 until 29 January 2022, which is 72 days. The 90-day target had been reintroduced at this point as DVLA sought to reduce its backlog. With that in mind we can see that DVLA met its target to process Mr O’s application. While we understand this wait may have been frustrating for Mr O, the DVLA has acted appropriately. Therefore, there are no indications of maladministration.
Failed to respond to complaint communications
42. Mr O contacted DVLA on 31 January 2022 and 2 February 2022 and requested the contact details of the ICA as he disagreed with receiving a three-year licence in place of a five year one. He did not receive a response to either of these communications.
43. The DVLA complaints process explains that a response will be provided within 10 working days. This did not happen in this case, and this is an indication of a service failing on the part of DVLA.
44. He went on to contact the Cabinet Secretary on 18 February 2022 and DVLA again on 21 February 2022, once more asking to escalate his complaint ot the ICA. He received a response from DVLA on 5 April 2022, apologising for the delay in responding and explaining why he had been issued with a three-year driving licence. It also explained how he could escalate the complaint to the ICA should he wish to.
45. As before, he did not receive a response within 10 working days, and this is an indication of a service failing on the part of DVLA.
46. When we identify indications of a service failing, we explore whether this impacted the complainant. Mr O has told us how frustrating it was to feel like DVLA were ignoring him and preventing him from escalating his complaint. We recognise this and feel the lack of communication from DVLA would have this impact on Mr O.
47. We also explore if the Organisation has already acted to put right the impact experienced by the complainant. Our Principles of Remedy state:‘Where a public body has failed to get it right and this has led to injustice or hardship, it should take steps to put things right.’ This can include:
• an apology, explanation, and acknowledgement of responsibility
• remedial action, which may include reviewing or changing a decision on the service given to an individual complainant; revising published material; revising procedures, policies or guidance to prevent the same thing happening again; training or supervising staff; or any combination of these
• financial compensation for direct or indirect financial loss, loss of opportunity, inconvenience, distress, or any combination of these.
48. Our Principles also say that good practice is, ‘Offering remedies that are fair and proportionate to the complainant’s injustice or hardship.’
49. The ICA recommended DVLA pay Mr O £200 to address the frustration he experienced, which it has done. It also apologised.
50. Our Guidance on Financial Remedy which looks at the severity of the injustice experienced by the affected person. In this case, Mr O experienced frustration at times between October 2021 and April 2022, this would align with a level two on our severity of injustice scale and the apology and remedy given by DVLA is in line with what we would expect to see at that level.
51. Therefore, we deem the DVLA has already done enough to put things right, and we will take no further action in this part of the complaint.
52. We recognise that these events continue to cause Mr O frustration and the sense that he has not been treated fairly, so we hope we have clearly explained how we considered the evidence in this case and reached our decision.