Able to drive

Hi William1972

There are two different issues here - one - the going out and planning a journey and the alledged car driving.

The Going Out activity looks at three things.

Planning a route - this is primarily a cognitive or sensory (e.g. blindness) activity. You are being asked about the problems you would have with working out how to get from one place to another, you do not need to be able to follow the route that you are planning.

Undertaking a Journey - this is to do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.

Following a route - This activity about the problems you would have navigating a route. So are there problems; cognitive, sensory or mental health issues that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact, if you cannot undertake a journey then you will not score points for following one and vice versa.

You will need to prove that you have a cognitive or sensory impairment in order to score here.
I know that you have said above that you have not driven for 'months' and only in an extreme emergency, but if the assessor was aware that you have driven albeit not for a while there are often other assumptions that are made when they assessor are aware that a claimant drives or has driven.

There are two distinct issues with a claimant driving, one that is reasonable and one that is less so.First, the DWP will argue that someone who drives has good cognitive ability as the process of driving requires the driver to be aware of what is going on around them, to be able to pre-empt situations that they are approaching and to be able to manage the operation of the vehicle.They will also argue that it show good navigation skills and an ability to plan a route, however, claimants might be able to argue that if only one journey is undertaken and the claimant had to be shown that route, that they are in fact not able to plan or navigate a route, but there is little flexibility in this argument.Secondly, the DWP view driving as a physical activity, for example holding the wheel requires a level of dexterity, strength and endurance in their hands, arms, and shoulders, They also believe that the operation of the pedals is akin to walking and so someone who can drive can also walk. This argument is very weak, however, most people drive a car to go somewhere and having arrived at that place they may then need to then walk to complete their journey.

I don't know if you are thinking of putting in for an MR, but you will have to counter the above arguments and against what has been written in the assessment report to gain additional points.

BIS