CAR DRIVERS across the country are facing severely prolonged waits to receive their driving licences as a substantial backlog continues to cause problems.
In a city located in West Yorkshire, one driver has been stuck in limbo for an extended duration, dispatching multiple emails and placing numerous phone calls, yet still has no indication of when – or even if – their licence will arrive.
This account examines the medical driving licence backlog, presented by an elected official from the Eastern region.
It serves as an alert because should you need one, this could readily happen to you…
IT WOULD be fair to say that operating a motor vehicle constitutes an essential means of getting by.
It offers self-reliance, better career opportunities, transport for offspring, ease and comfort and for many of us a facility we anticipate will remain available throughout our adult lives.
We do accept that growing older may affect our driving abilities, as may deteriorating wellbeing; however with disability badges, modified cars and mobility programmes then staying on the roads and active surely ought to be something we can depend on, correct? Well from my own experience this turns out not to be the case. Half a decade ago I was diagnosed with Bipolar and as required by law I informed the DVLA, aware that with certain medical conditions comparable to mine failure to report could result in a £1000 fine.
After a lengthy wait I was subsequently awarded a 1 year medical driving licence. Having piloted a vehicle for thirty years devoid of any accidents, and plainly managing a car whilst having an undetected condition, it proved surprising to learn that from that moment onwards the assessment regarding my driving fitness would rest in the remote hands of bureaucracy.
During this initial period I gained knowledge about the various classifications of health matters that warranted 1, 2, 3 and 5 year licences and the mounting delays that emerged in issuing and refreshing data on them, and directly encountered the exasperation of being unable to modify my details through electronic means.
Information held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) indicates that as of mid-March 2026, more than 271,000 cases were pending a medical licensing determination.
As of mid-March, the standard timeframe needed to reach a decision for the 2025/26 financial year was around 57 working days. By contrast the standard wait for a routine digital licence renewal stretches to 3-5 days. Naturally due to ailments and different disabilities there will be complex factors needing evaluation, yet these do not account for the main cause of prolonged hold-ups as the core problem originates from the outdated procedure itself. Once informed of a health change requiring the issuance of a medical licence, the DVLA will mail a paper questionnaire to the driver’s GP or healthcare provider.
Following receipt and return, also through post, a medical team within the DVLA will assess and convey the outcome to the driver. Doctors filling out the questionnaire receive payment of £62.50 for their contribution, with the form generally being sent back to the DVLA within a four-week window. Unfortunately this frequently fails to happen with some delays extending beyond five months to resolve. For context: of the current 265,038 medical licence applications awaiting resolution across Great Britain, 40% have been waiting beyond three months for an outcome. Strikingly the longest documented waiting period in working days for finalising a decision was 2,923 in 2019. Understandably given the reliance on physical documentation for evidence collection, rather than the standard electronic process, these waiting periods have continued to accumulate.
Therefore it proved encouraging to discover that going forward the DVLA are introducing a new casework system designed to speed up operations.
Ideally this will bring about improvement as it’s not merely the act of getting behind the wheel that matters, it’s also the adverse consequences experienced through lacking a licence to use as legitimate identification.
The DVLA’s medical licence framework is described as ‘chaotic’ by the author (Image: Library)
Consequently wishing to heighten awareness of this issue and stimulate change I approached fellow elected representatives of Norfolk County Council to correspond with government and work together to address and resolve these problems.
Unfortunately my suggestion was turned down with a subsequent question to cabinet receiving a ‘people must contact the DVLA themselves’ response. The irony of this counsel was not lost on me. I had personally suffered months waiting for my medical licence, I had devoted considerable time calling my surgery and DVLA to chase it, and following a house move I encountered exactly the same problems anew. If I were to sum up my experience it would be one of facing unrivalled, unnecessarily convoluted bureaucratic procedures; something I would not wish upon my fiercest opponent, not even those councillors who opposed my proposal.
But setting jokes aside this disorderly system does require improvement, as the detrimental impact it has on countless of the most vulnerable people within our society proves wholly unacceptable.
Indeed change is happening, however it is essential that this occurs swiftly. And whilst driving most certainly does not constitute an absolute