Hello,
My mom has Alzheimer’s diagnosed about a year ago. She lives on her own. She has carers three times a day to check on her, taking tablets and eating. I have Power of Attorney for finance and property. I order her food online and pay all her bills. My brother lives locally and takes her to the Doctors and whatever other appointments she may have; otherwise she has a history of not going to appointments. She would never voluntarily go into a care home.
She does not accept she has Alzheimer’s and says any memory problem is due to normal aging. She claims to live a normal life and manages all her own affairs. This is not true but it is what she believes.
Over the last year, the DVLA were informed of her illness and after a diving assessment and Doctors assessment, her driving licence has been rescinded three weeks ago. Neither I nor my brother was informed and we only found out by chance at her Doctor’s appointment two days ago. This has since been confirmed by DVLA via phone. There is no record of a letter informing mom of the rescinded licence at her home, we can only assume she has disposed of it.
Somewhat bizarrely, both Doctor and DVLA say they couldn’t inform us or let us have a copy of the DVLA letter due to “data protection”. Mom says it isn’t true she has a rescinded licence and there is nothing in black and white to say so.
Now the big problem; She has a car and has been driving without a licence for three weeks. She has said in the past that no matter what DVLA says, she will still drive. My brother, a Police Officer has taken the car to his house initially with her permission to sell it although she now says he has stolen it. On top of that, she threatens to buy another car for which she does have sufficient bank funds to do so.
So we are left with three issues;
1. Have we stolen the car in law? My brother can’t afford this kind of accusation given his job.
2. If we return the car, she will drive illegally and given her condition, dangerously. She will become a danger to herself and other road users. Don’t we have a moral duty to prevent her driving?
3. If we don’t return the car and she does buy another, how can we prevent her from driving? According to my brother, the Police would have to catch her driving to take any action. Even if that Police action was to take the car away, it wouldn’t stop her buying yet another one.
We are running out of ideas. We see a dangerous person breaking the law and putting herself and others at risk. Any advice on how we can handle this problem?
My mom has Alzheimer’s diagnosed about a year ago. She lives on her own. She has carers three times a day to check on her, taking tablets and eating. I have Power of Attorney for finance and property. I order her food online and pay all her bills. My brother lives locally and takes her to the Doctors and whatever other appointments she may have; otherwise she has a history of not going to appointments. She would never voluntarily go into a care home.
She does not accept she has Alzheimer’s and says any memory problem is due to normal aging. She claims to live a normal life and manages all her own affairs. This is not true but it is what she believes.
Over the last year, the DVLA were informed of her illness and after a diving assessment and Doctors assessment, her driving licence has been rescinded three weeks ago. Neither I nor my brother was informed and we only found out by chance at her Doctor’s appointment two days ago. This has since been confirmed by DVLA via phone. There is no record of a letter informing mom of the rescinded licence at her home, we can only assume she has disposed of it.
Somewhat bizarrely, both Doctor and DVLA say they couldn’t inform us or let us have a copy of the DVLA letter due to “data protection”. Mom says it isn’t true she has a rescinded licence and there is nothing in black and white to say so.
Now the big problem; She has a car and has been driving without a licence for three weeks. She has said in the past that no matter what DVLA says, she will still drive. My brother, a Police Officer has taken the car to his house initially with her permission to sell it although she now says he has stolen it. On top of that, she threatens to buy another car for which she does have sufficient bank funds to do so.
So we are left with three issues;
1. Have we stolen the car in law? My brother can’t afford this kind of accusation given his job.
2. If we return the car, she will drive illegally and given her condition, dangerously. She will become a danger to herself and other road users. Don’t we have a moral duty to prevent her driving?
3. If we don’t return the car and she does buy another, how can we prevent her from driving? According to my brother, the Police would have to catch her driving to take any action. Even if that Police action was to take the car away, it wouldn’t stop her buying yet another one.
We are running out of ideas. We see a dangerous person breaking the law and putting herself and others at risk. Any advice on how we can handle this problem?
