Summary for the Ombudsman.

The DVLA idea of letting someone have a series of driving tests but not allowing them to practise driving or even have driving lessons must stop.

I need to be treated like a normal person. That means giving me a provisional driving licence so that I can have driving lessons and practise driving with a qualified driver in the car, towards taking a driving test.

This case is complicated because both the DVLA and HAD (Hertfordshire Action on Disability) have made mistakes, compounding each others’ errors.

I had a very serious illness . I came out of hospital at the end of May 2008.

I immediately continued to drive, in England and in Europe, without incident, for a year. This matched my previous record of never having had a crash in more than forty years of driving.

Six months out of hospital I had to fill in forms for my driving licence because I was approaching the age of 73, on 19 December 2008. I reported my very serious medical problem, which had ended six months before.

The DVLA sent my GP Dr. Ferguson a form to fill up which he duly did, without keeping a copy. Dr. J G G Hanley, Medical Adviser to the DVLA, refuses to give me a copy of the form. (But now 21 August 2010 that I have at last received the Ferguson form,  http://www.ivorcatt.org/x0834.jpg . We now can see that the false ideas came from the DVLA or HAD.) I need this to help to establish where false ideas originated, for instance that I am disabled (which I am not) and that I am aged 84.

After a further delay of six months, so that I had been out of hospital and driving without incident for a year, the DVLA organised two tests for me – “Cognitive and Perceptual Assessment” (in the office, exceeding one hour) and then a driving test exceeding one hour.

Although in the “Cognitive and Perceptual Assessment” in the office they told me I had high scores, and I finally got hold of the very high marks very recently, see 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 , the report on this test was shocking – see 6 and 7 . This report caused Dr. J G G Hanley, Medical Adviser to the DVLA, to let me have another test but not allow me to practise driving or have driving lessons before the test. Obviously, being prevented from driving for six months or having driving lessons, my driving could be expected to deteriorate, and I failed the second test, although the second test report was much better than in the first.

Strangely, When I asked whether it was true that they were giving me a second driving test but not allowing me to have driving lessons before it, the DVLA’s Dr. Hanley said that if I failed the second test he would consider letting me have driving lessons before a third test. However, now he will not let me practise driving, or have lessons, or take another test.

I went up through the complaints procedure in the DVLA, which turned out to be circular. I was persistently returned to their medical section, although the problem is not medical, but driving competence. I have never in my life had a driving lesson.

My high marks in the marking sheets for the “Cognitive and Perceptual Assessment” show that I am a normal person (with an unblemished driving record before and after my illness). I should be treated like a normal person. That means giving me a provisional driving licence so that I can have driving lessons and practise driving with a qualified driver in the car, towards taking a driving test.

Ivor Catt   17 August 2010