Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency
| ?- Must not drive | ! - May continue to drive subject to medical advice and/or notifying DVLA | ?- May continue to drive and need not notify DVLA |
Serious neurological disorders
Changes to Annex III to the EC Directive 2006/126/EC require that driving licences may not be issued to, or renewed for, applicants or drivers who have a serious neurological disorder unless there is medical support from their doctors.
A serious neurological disorder is considered as:
- any condition of the central or peripheral nervous system presently with, or at risk of progression to a condition with, functional (sensory (including special senses), motor and/or cognitive) effects likely to impact on safe driving
Further information relating to specific functional criteria is provided on:
- specific neurological conditions in this chapter (Neurology)
- cognitive and related conditions
- visual conditions and disorders
- excessive sleepiness
When considering licensing for these customers, the functional status and risk of progression will be considered. A short term medical review licence is generally issued when there is a risk of progression.
Epilepsy and seizures
Appendix B sets out the relevant regulations.
The following definitions apply:
- epilepsy encompasses all seizure types, including major, minor and auras
- if within a 24-hour period more than one epileptic event occurs, these are treated as a single event for the purpose of applying the epilepsy and seizure regulations
- from a licensing perspective, epilepsy means 2 or more unprovoked seizures over a period which exceeds 24 hours and less than five years apart
- epilepsy is prescribed in legislation as a relevant disability where there have been 2 or more epileptic seizures during the previous 5 year period
- isolated seizure means one or more unprovoked seizures within a 24 hour period, or one or more unprovoked seizures within a 24 hour period where that period of seizure has occurred more than 5 years after the last unprovoked seizure
The following features, in both Group 1 car and motorcycle and Group 2 bus and lorry drivers, are considered to indicate a good prognosis for a person under care for a first unprovoked or isolated epileptic seizure:
- no relevant structural abnormalities on brain imaging
- no definite epileptiform activity on EEG
- support of a neurologist
- annual risk of seizure considered to be 2% or lower for bus and lorry drivers
| Group 1 Car and motorcycle | Group 2 Bus and lorry | |
|---|---|---|
| Epilepsy or multiple unprovoked seizures | ?- Must not drive and must notify DVLA. Driving must cease for 12 months from the date of the most recent seizure, unless the seizure meets legal criteria to be considered as a permitted seizure (see Appendix B). | ?- Must not drive and must notify DVLA. The person with epilepsy must remain seizure-free for 10 years (without epilepsy medication) before licensing may be considered. |
| First unprovoked epileptic seizure/isolated seizure | ?- Must not drive and must notify DVLA. Driving must cease for 6 months from the date of the seizure, or for 12 months if there is an underlying causative factor that may increase risk. | ?- Must not drive and must notify DVLA. Driving must cease for 5 years from the date of the seizure. If, after 5 years, a neurologist has made a recent assessment and clinical factors or investigation results (for example, EEG or brain scan) indicate no annual risk greater than 2% of a further seizure, the licence may then be restored. Such licensing also requires that there has been no need for epilepsy medication throughout the 5 years up to the date of the licence being restored. |
| Withdrawal of epilepsy medication | ! - See the special considerations below, and Appendix B gives full guidance on withdrawing epilepsy medication. | ! - See the special considerations below, and Appendix B gives full guidance on withdrawing epilepsy medication. |
| Provoked seizures | ? - Must not drive and must notify DVLA. In most cases driving must cease for 6 months after the provoked seizure. See the special considerations in Appendix B and Provoked seizures. | ? - Must not drive and must notify DVLA. Driving must cease for up to 5 years after the provoked seizure. See the special considerations in Appendix B and Provoked seizures. |
| Dissociative seizures | ?- Must not drive and must notify DVLA. Licensing may be considered when the driver or applicant has been event free for 3 months. If episodes have occurred or are considered likely to occur whilst driving, a specialists review would also be required prior to licensing. | ?- Must not drive and must notify DVLA. Licensing may be considered once episodes have been satisfactorily controlled for 3 months and there are no relevant mental health issues. If high risk features, a specialists review would be required prior to relicensing. |
Special considerations
Here are the special considerations.
Group 1 car and motorcycle
The following special considerations apply to drivers of cars and motorcycles:
- The person with epilepsy may qualify for a driving licence if they have been free from any seizure for 1 year. This needs to include being free of minor seizures, including those that do not involve a loss of consciousness, and epilepsy signs such as limb jerking, auras and absences.
- The person who has had a seizure while asleep must stop driving for 1 year from the date of the seizure unless point 3 or 5 apply.
- Relicensing may be granted if the person, over the course of at least 1 year from the date of the sleep seizure, establishes a history or pattern of seizures occurring only ever while asleep.
- Relicensing may be granted if the person, over the course of at least 1 year from the date of the first seizure, establishes a history or pattern of seizures which affect neither consciousness nor cause any functional impairment. The person must never have experienced any other type of unprovoked seizure.
- Regardless of preceding seizure history, if a person establishes a pattern of asleep seizures only (all seizures had onset during sleep), starting at least 3 years prior to licence application and there have been no other unprovoked seizures during those 3 years, a licence may be issued.
Overriding all of the above considerations is that the licence holder or applicant with epilepsy must not be regarded as a likely source of danger to the public while driving and that they are compliant with their treatment and follow up.
If the licensed driver has any epileptic seizure, they must stop driving immediately unless DVLA has established that considerations 3, 4 or 5 can be met, and they must notify DVLA.
If a licence is issued under considerations 3, 4 or 5 and the driver has a different type of seizure, they lose the concession, must stop driving, and must notify DVLA.
Isolated seizures
An isolated seizure is an unprovoked seizure experienced by a person who has not had any other unprovoked seizures during the preceding 5 years. A person who has an isolated seizure will qualify for a driving licence if they are free from any further seizure for 6 months, unless there are clinical factors or results of investigati