How to deal with Dvla about my mums driving licence

[jude1223]

My mum is unable to drive due to her dementia. DVLA have recently sent her an application to renew her licence which we managed to intercept.
If mum sees this form she will fill it in saying she is capable of driving because in her mind she thinks she still is!!
I don’t want to show her the form as it will cause more upset.
Please can you advise me how I can deal with this please. Will DVLA deal with me? Thanking you in advance

 

[patbryn]

The DVLA will deal with you, first ring them and explain the problem and your concerns, they will advise you from there.

 

[Batsue]

My mum is unable to drive due to her dementia. DVLA have recently sent her an application to renew her licence which we managed to intercept.
If mum sees this form she will fill it in saying she is capable of driving because in her mind she thinks she still is!!
I don’t want to show her the form as it will cause more upset.
Please can you advise me how I can deal with this please. Will DVLA deal with me? Thanking you in advance

I also intercepted my mum's renewal notice several years ago and I shredded it so she never new it had arrived.

 

[Grannie G]

Yes. I phoned the DVLA and told them of my concerns about mother`s driving. She was asked to return her licence. She said if she had a gun she would kill me.

 

[karaokePete]

In the hope that it helps, the official position is outlined in the Society Factsheet that can be read by clicking the second line of the following link

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/staying-independent/driving-and-dementia
https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/media/8241

 

[Elle3]

I printed off the Declaration of surrender for medical reasons form from the gov website, but it requires the drivers signature to surrender the license. So I called the DVLA to explain the situation, that my dad didn’t have the mental capacity to sign it and I didn’t have H&W LPA. Dad had also moved into a care home and I’d just sold his house, so it was going to be pointless them writing to him at his old address. The person I spoke to wasn’t really helpful and said I couldn’t do it then, but I could try writing to them and see if they would accept it.

So that’s what I did, I filled in the form, without a signature, cut up dad’s due to expire driving license and wrote a letter explaining the situation and gave them my address as the only means of contact. Whoever received it, saw sense and a few weeks later I received letters confirming their acceptance and the license was cancelled. This was Nov 2018.

 

[marionq]

I'm another one who intercepted the renewal form. I just said to John he would have to resit a driving test if he ever wanted to drive again. Gradually he stopped even thinking about it.

 

[Duggies-girl]

I'm another one who intercepted the renewal form. I just said to John he would have to resit a driving test if he ever wanted to drive again. Gradually he stopped even thinking about it.

That is exactly what I did.

 

[Countryboy]

Once again the reader has No idea of the age of person being discussed

Which is why I read threads like this with great sadness Dementia doesn’t mean we give up on life ,

Each person has the right to make decisions and have choices about how they live their life. Each person has different ideas about what is important and what makes them feel best. Making your own choices about the things you do is very important because it gives your life meaning.

The Mental Capacity Act empowers and protects by: Supporting people to make their own decisions, and promoting their right to do so wherever possible.

The checklist in the Mental Capacity Act means the decision-maker must:

• not make assumptions. about what is in the person's best interests or about their quality of life
• consider whether the decision can be delayed to give time for the person to regain capacity to make the decision themselves
• consider all aspects of the situation
• 
  
• help the person to be as involved as possible in the decision about them
• 
  
• take the person's past and present views, wishes, feelings, beliefs and values into account
• consult the person's family and friends and others working with the person.

let face it this can lead to major breakups of families and has done not always about driving ,

 

[Bunpoots]

I intercepted dad’s form and burnt it. When he decided some years later that he was going to drive to France (couldn’t even find his way home from the end of the road by this stage) I just said he’d forgotten to renew his licence so he couldn’t...

Dad had been told, by his consultant that he shouldn’t be driving due to his health problems. He was 87 when he stopped because he was getting lost and constantly scraping the car.

 

[jugglingmum]

If you have LPA can you redirect her post to you so that she doesn't get this sort of thing.

I removed mum's car keys - she wasn't happy but knew I wasn't giving them back.

When her licence renewal came through I destroyed it.

I never heard from them again.

 

[Fullticket]

Mum's dementia meant her driving was working us. Then mum had two TIEs and we informed the DVLA. No response. Then I contacted them to say that she was no longer driving. The DVLA refused to cancel mum's licence because it was not her that contacted them. By then I had removed the keys, her car, cancelled the insurance (they understood the seriousness of a PWD driving, especially one who had had TIEs), and then her licence expired anyway. The DVLA wrote to her asking if she was going to renew it... Fortunately she only remembered that she had to 'renew' it for a couple of days and then it went out of her head. After a while she told me that she was glad she had surrendered her licence voluntarily and I went along with the fantasy.
I think the important thing is being the adult in all of this and preventing the PWD driving by removing the vehicle (easily said and you will no doubt be called all sorts of things; I know I was), removing the relevant post and, frankly, letting the DVLA get on with the human rights aspect.