22/10/2026
DVLA medical conditions and driving licences: what you need to know
Written By Keith WR Jones
Motorists with medical conditions or disabilities which affects their ability to drive safely are obliged to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Failure to do so could result in a fine and prosecution.
The DVLA requires notification of several health conditions and could request further medical examinations are undertaken before determining whether a short-term medical driving licence should be issued.
Recently published DVLA data confirmed that between January 2014 and April 2024 a total of 646,972 UK drivers had their licences revoked on medical grounds, highlighting the importance of health condition disclosures in ensuring road safety.
This guide provides information on which medical conditions must be declared to the DVLA, how to apply for or renew a short-term medical driving licence and what to expect during the process in 2026.
Which health conditions must be declared to the DVLA?
You must notify the DVLA about any medical condition or disability which could affect your ability to drive safely. If you don’t, you could be fined up to £1,000 and be prosecuted if that condition is found to be the cause of an accident.
This includes those applying for their first driving licence as well as those aged 70 or over who are seeking a licence renewal.
If you have developed a ‘notifiable’ medical condition or disability after your driving licence was issued, then it is imperative to tell the DVLA. The ‘notifiable’ aspect essentially means any health concern which can potentially impair your ability to be a safe driver. They include, but are not limited to:
Diabetes or taking insulin
Epilepsy
Glaucoma
Heart conditions (including atrial fibrillation and pacemakers)
Sleep apnoea
Strokes
Syncope (fainting)
As there are hundreds of medical conditions which affect people’s ability to drive safely to varying degrees — or none at all — the DVLA has an online A to Z guide for drivers to check.
Some will require you to notify the DVLA, others will ask if as part of the diagnosis the medical professionals advised that you shouldn’t drive while several will state that you don’t need to tell the DVLA at all.
You must also contact the DVLA should a medical condition or disability it is already aware of worsen.
Voluntarily surrendering your driving licence
Should you wish to voluntarily surrender your driving licence for medical reasons, you can do so by downloading and completing form D1016. Details of where to send it via email or post are at the end of the form.
You are obliged to surrender your licence if any of the following statements are true:
Your doctor tells you to stop driving for a period of three months or longer
Your medical condition affects your ability to drive safely and is expected to do so for three months or longer
You do not meet the required standards for driving due to your medical condition
When you again meet the minimum requirements for safe driving, you can elect to reapply for your driving licence.
How to notify the DVLA about medical conditions and disabilities
To encourage prompt reporting of new or worsening medical conditions and disabilities, the DVLA has a variety of ways to contact them depending on your preferences.
Although the DVLA’s website states that you can email them, the link actually takes you to an online contact form.
Phone
You can call the DVLA’s Medical Enquiries team on 0300 790 6806, with lines open from 08:00-19:00 Monday to Friday and 08:00-14:00 on Saturdays, except for public holidays.
British Sign Language (BSL) users can opt to use a video relay service on computers, smartphones and tablets.
Post
If you would prefer to write to the DVLA informing them of your medical conditions, your correspondence must be addressed to:
Drivers’ Medical Enquiries
DVLA
Swansea SA99 1TU
Webchat
Should a webchat be preferable, you can use the DVLA’s service, which is operational during the same times as the phone option.
Transcripts of your conversations can be kept by clicking the Save Chat button at the top left of the screen, with the following areas being actionable through the service:
Checking the progress of your application
Enquiring about appointments the DVLA has requested
Notifying the DVLA of a new medical condition
Obtaining advice on how to renew or reapply for your medical driving licence
Requesting a new form be re-sent
Updating yours or your doctor’s details
Withdrawing your application
What happens after notifying the DVLA about a medical condition or disability?
Depending on your condition, the DVLA may require further information to make its decision about your application. That could take the form of:
Contacting your doctor or consultant
Arranging for you to be medically examined
Requiring you to take a driving assessment, a driving test or a sight test
Once the DVLA has reached a decision about your application, it will send you a letter through the post.
Can I still drive awaiting the DVLA’s decision on my application?
Under Section 88 of The Road Traffic Act 1988, you are potentially still able to drive while the DVLA considers your medical condition or disability.
It’s vital to understand that the onus is on you as the driver, with advice from your doctor, to ensure that you meet all of the Section 88 criteria, which are outlined in the leaflet INF188/6.
You do not have to apply for Section 88 to be applicable — it’s an automatic right providing that, in broad terms, you must:
Meet the fitness to drive medical standards
Not have been told to stop driving by your doctor
Have previously held a valid driving licence
Continue to meet any conditions specified on your previous licence
Have completed your application and submitted it to the DVLA within the past 12
Not have had your previous licence revoked or refused on medical grounds
Not be currently disqualified from driving by a court
Not be reapplying for a licence after being disqualified as a high-risk offender on or after 1 June 2013
While the DVLA is considering your application, it cannot separately advise whether Section 88 is applicable to you.
What could the DVLA decide?
After assessing all of the information relating to your medical condition or disability, the DVLA’s decision will fall into one of the following categories:
You need to apply for a new driving licence
If the DVLA advises you to apply for a new driving licence, the letter may include notice of a waiting period. If it does, soonest you can apply for your licence is eight weeks before the waiting period’s end date.
Also in the letter will be reference to whether you must submit medical evidence of your fitness to drive again with your application.
Reapplying for a driving licence can be done online but note that your progress cannot be saved and the form must be completed within a one-hour timeframe.
You can also reapply via a postal option. Should you prefer this method, you need to first obtain a D1 application form from a Post Office. Not all branches will have the form, so check for the nearest one to you which does.
You can have a short-term medical driving licence
These short-term medical driving licences are valid for periods of one, two, three or five years. You will receive a renewal reminder from the DVLA 90 days before its expiry date.
They can be renewed online but again be aware that you cannot save your progress and the form must be completed within an hour of starting.
There’s also the postal option, again using the D1 application form available from selected Post Offices.
Your short-term medical driving licence renewal can take longer than expected if the DVLA decides it requires more information regarding your condition from your doctor.
Your car needs adapting by fitting special controls
Cars are designed to be used by able-bodied adults, therefore tailored adaptions may be required to suit the individual needs of disabled drivers. If the DVLA has informed you that adaptions are required for your car, you will have an independent assessment of your requirements through Driving Mobility.
You can find out more about the potential adaptions available and where they can be installed thanks to the Research Institute for Disabled Consumers (RiDC).
You must stop driving
As well as explaining why the DVLA has reached this decision, the letter will also advise if or when you can reapply for your driving licence.
If you feel this decision is wrong, you have two options:
Send further medical evidence
This information must be both relevant and — for whatever reason — be something which wasn’t included in your original application to the DVLA.
Additionally, you must send the DVLA proof that you do meet the required standards for driving as outlined in their correspondence as well as the decision letter’s reference number.
Appealing the DVLA’s decision
You also have the right to appeal the DVLA's decision, but it’s important to seek legal advice ahead of doing so.
Residents of England and Wales have up to six months in which to appeal the decision, doing so by contacting your local magistrate’s court, as well as notifying the DVLA of your intentions.
Matters are more restrictive time-wise for those living in Scotland, with just 21 days to both appeal the decision by being in touch with your local sheriff’s court and telling the DVLA.
Our advice is to comply with the law — as it’s your legal obligation to report such medical conditions or disabilities to the DVLA, that’s the right and proper course of action.
If you choose not to, then you are risking not only your own life, but more importantly, the lives of other motorists and pedestrians who have had no choice but to suffer the consequences of your selfishness.
Sure, as with speeding or overtaking across solid white lines, you may never get caught, but if you are or you cause an accident with catastrophic consequences, you will at the very least prosecuted for driving without a valid driving licence or car insurance.
Not only could that be financially ruinous for you and your family, your liberty may be at risk and you will have deal with the moral consequences of potentially inflicting life-changing or -ending injuries upon innocent third parties.
No, Section 88 is a UK-specific provision, which other countries do not accept as a valid driving licence.
Driving overseas without your physical, in-date and full licence can result in being prosecuted for driving without insurance in the country the offence took place in.
As your car insurance company would also consider this to mean you weren’t covered, the financial implications of causing an accident could be ruinous. It’s simply not worth the risk.
According to community data published by LicenceWait, waiting times for the DVLA to process medical driving licence applications vary significantly depending upon the health conditions or disabilities reported.
It cites simple medical conditions, such as controlled diabetes, can take six to eight weeks to process, while heart conditions extend this to an average of eight to 12 weeks.
Complex medical conditions which require specialist reports being prepared typically take 12 to 26 weeks, whereas those which result in a panel review can take a minimum of 16 weeks.
Officially, the DVLA has a government-set target of dealing with medical condition applications within 90 working days — approximately 18 weeks.
Simply because of the number of medical professionals the DVLA may need to write to and await responses from, all of whom are very busy individuals and therefore will take weeks to reply.
If independent medical examinations are required, they also take time to organise and report back on, while people who have reported multiple medical conditions will likely find each has to be dealt with individually.
Only to a certain degree because the single biggest cause of delays in the process is the time taken by medical professionals to respond.
By being thorough, prompt, including all relevant medical reports you have and applying online, you are doing your bit to encourage swiftness in the system.
Whether or not it makes much difference is a moot point, but it might prove worthwhile advising your GP surgery that the DVLA will be in contact about your medical driving licence application and asking if there’s any way it could be responded to swiftly.