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DVLA licence renewal

A

Ali H

Well-Known Member
Messages
790
Location
Somerset
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi, just had my renewal through, it asks have you ever had a hypo....... well derrrrr, is there an insulin dependant diabetic out there that hasn't had one???!!!

This is the first renewal of a 3 year licence that I have had to do. I of course have the odd hypo but never whilst driving and never needing assistance. Like everybody else, you test, correct and get on with life.

Why are they now asking if you have EVER had a hypo rather than ever had hypos requiring assistance, which is what I think they used to ask? How are we meant to answer now?

Thanks.

Ali
 
From memory, I think they are only interested in number of hypos requiring 3rd party assistance. I have a vague recollection that they are also interested in overnight hypos, and ultimately your hypo awareness.
 
Can I move this to the Driving section for you @Ali H ?

The answers you get will be useful for others looking there :)
 
azure said:
Can I move this to the Driving section for you @Ali H ?

The answers you get will be useful for others looking there :)
Click to expand...

Yes of course. I think the question used to ask about hypos requiring assistance, it now says have you had a hypo yes/no If yes you then have to answer a few more questions including have you needed assistance. Thankfully never but it seems a bit of a daft question to anybody on insulin. I have very few but some people have masses of them. Surely it is down to awareness, management and most importantly for the DVLA, adhering to their rules re testing before and during journeys.

Ali
 
I thought the law was changing that instead of 3 years renewal it was going to be 10 years renewal ???

I got mine renewed last month for July and it's valid for just 3 years
 
Ali H said:
Yes of course. I think the question used to ask about hypos requiring assistance, it now says have you had a hypo yes/no If yes you then have to answer a few more questions including have you needed assistance. Thankfully never but it seems a bit of a daft question to anybody on insulin. I have very few but some people have masses of them. Surely it is down to awareness, management and most importantly for the DVLA, adhering to their rules re testing before and during journeys.

Ali
Click to expand...

I'm sure there's always been a question "have you ever had a hypo" on the dab1 form. I'm sure I remember filling that in after my first endo appointment (2011) and quite happily ticking no, course that was because I filled it in on the way home from the hospital with brand new, unused, insulin pens in hand having been sat at 30 for a few weeks.

Course, when I filled it in in 2014 I had to tick yes. Didn't make any difference to getting my licence renewed though.
 
catapillar said:
I'm sure there's always been a question "have you ever had a hypo" on the dab1 form. I'm sure I remember filling that in after my first endo appointment (2011) and quite happily ticking no, course that was because I filled it in on the way home from the hospital with brand new, unused, insulin pens in hand having been sat at 30 for a few weeks.

Course, when I filled it in in 2014 I had to tick yes. Didn't make any difference to getting my licence renewed though.
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Yep that's where I am at now, this is my first renewal since notifying them I had moved to taking insulin. Oh well, hopefully it will all be ok. Not had any problems, needed help etc.
 
Ali H said:
Yes of course. I think the question used to ask about hypos requiring assistance, it now says have you had a hypo yes/no If yes you then have to answer a few more questions including have you needed assistance. Thankfully never but it seems a bit of a daft question to anybody on insulin. I have very few but some people have masses of them. Surely it is down to awareness, management and most importantly for the DVLA, adhering to their rules re testing before and during journeys.

Ali
Click to expand...

I'm due to renew my licence soon too, so I'll be interested in the answers you get. I can't remember exactly what the form asked last time.
 
Ali H said:
Why are they now asking if you have EVER had a hypo rather than ever had hypos requiring assistance, which is what I think they used to ask? How are we meant to answer now?
Click to expand...

You just answer it honestly, I'd expect anyone on insulin would have had a hypo so the answer is YES, this is how I answered when I renewed my licence earlier this year.

Ali H said:
Surely it is down to awareness, management and most importantly for the DVLA, adhering to their rules re testing before and during journeys.
Click to expand...

It is about the awareness and that is why they ask you to confirm that you recognise the symptoms of a hypo and can treat them without a third party assistance, as long as your hypo aware and not needed assistance on more than two occasions you should be fine for your renewal.
 
noblehead said:
You just answer it honestly, I'd expect anyone on insulin would have had a hypo so the answer is YES, this is how I answered when I renewed my licence earlier this year.



It is about the awareness and that is why they ask you to confirm that you recognise the symptoms of a hypo and can treat them without a third party assistance, as long as your hypo aware and not needed assistance on more than two occasions you should be fine for your renewal.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Hopefully it will all renew ok, nope not had any severe hypos, needed help etc etc, just corrected and got on with life, as you do!!

Ali
 
Just had my renewel. The question asks how many hypos have you had in the last 12 months, with 3 check boxes to tick stating none, one or 2 or more.
If you tick none or one skip the next question. If you tick 2 or more, it's the next question which asks you to tick no assistance needed, needed assistance one time, or needed assistance both times or more.
 
brett said:
Just had my renewel. The question asks how many hypos have you had in the last 12 months, with 3 check boxes to tick stating none, one or 2 or more.
If you tick none or one skip the next question. If you tick 2 or more, it's the next question which asks you to tick no assistance needed, needed assistance one time, or needed assistance both times or more.
Click to expand...

Seems bizarre to me that they would expect IDDs to maybe have had none or only 1 or 2 lol. I low carb but the best will in the world we don't always get it right regardless of how tightly we control! Very odd question if you ask me!
 
Certainly is lol. On the plus side it's not asking how many hypos have you had in the last 12 months, and limited it to 2 plus.
 
brett said:
Just had my renewel. The question asks how many hypos have you had in the last 12 months, with 3 check boxes to tick stating none, one or 2 or more.
If you tick none or one skip the next question. If you tick 2 or more, it's the next question which asks you to tick no assistance needed, needed assistance one time, or needed assistance both times or more.
Click to expand...

So, what about those who experience the hypo feeling and treat it before it gets bad but dont do a bg test so dont record it and what about those who use cgm or the Libra? Just how low is a bg meant to go before it gets classed if recorded on a meter as a hypo, for the DVLA to pass judgement?
 
It's not the number of 'normal' hypos they are asking/concerned about but the number of assisted hypos, if you've had 2 assisted hypos in a year then they'll start asking more questions, hence the tick boxes none, 1 or 2, or more.

Still an odd way to formulate a form, the only IDD I know that hasn't had a hypo in a year is a dead one, of course we've all had at least one! for the purpose of the form all it needs to say is:

I declare in the last 12 months I've:

[] had no assisted hypos
[] had one assisted hypo
[] had 2 or more assisted hypos
 
iHs said:
So, what about those who experience the hypo feeling and treat it before it gets bad but dont do a bg test so dont record it and what about those who use cgm or the Libra? Just how low is a bg meant to go before it gets classed if recorded on a meter as a hypo, for the DVLA to pass judgement?
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That doesn't matter @iHs if you treat the hypo without doing a bg test, all the DVLA want to know is how many hypo's were assisted and is the person hypo aware.
 
Hi did mine last Sept. Now got a 4 year card but mine was for treatment of retinopathy. 're hypo they just really want to know if you have good awareness. And that you don't need assistance unless it's in your sleep. Hope this helps.
 
Just to update my licence came back in a fortnight all fine thank goodness. :-) It has just over 3 years on it to take it to the actual renewal date in September.
 
BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT FORMS THEY SEND YOU​
I'm old enough to have a C1 category without ever having done the C1 test
Recently the DVLA sent me the forms to renew my license and i stupidly filled them in and sent them back. I assumed that this would renew my license.
This morning i got a new license through the post. valid for 3 years (normally 1) and with no C1 category.
apparently its my responsibility to know that they may not be the correct forms and that i actually need to fill in a D2 which would then lead to a medical exam and the keeping of my C1 category.
apparently they deal with thousands of applications every day and have no way of knowing that I might want to keep my C1

If the DVLA send you forms I'd advise you to call them up and check that they're the correct forms.

maybe if we all do it every time they might think its worth sending us the correct forms.
 
caver_tim said:
BE CAREFUL WITH WHAT FORMS THEY SEND YOU​
I'm old enough to have a C1 category without ever having done the C1 test
Recently the DVLA sent me the forms to renew my license and i stupidly filled them in and sent them back. I assumed that this would renew my license.
This morning i got a new license through the post. valid for 3 years (normally 1) and with no C1 category.
apparently its my responsibility to know that they may not be the correct forms and that i actually need to fill in a D2 which would then lead to a medical exam and the keeping of my C1 category.
apparently they deal with thousands of applications every day and have no way of knowing that I might want to keep my C1

If the DVLA send you forms I'd advise you to call them up and check that they're the correct forms.

maybe if we all do it every time they might think its worth sending us the correct forms.
Click to expand...
I had to renew my licence because I am 70 soon. I did it on line and the website did point out that I would need to do it by post if I wanted to keep C1. I don't know if said which form as I didn't need C1 anyway. New licence arrived in 3 days!
 
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