Completely lost what action I should take.

Hi, Looking for advice what I should do as have not been feeling too good and seem to be hitting a brick wall. I am an older claimant and get highest rate for mobility allowance and am in receipt of PIP. My original claim covered me for 10 year touch so well pleased and still have that on the go. Unfortunately last November 2024 I collapsed in supermarket (first time ever) and was rushed to hospital. Diagnosed with benign tumour and needed no operation although I know it is a serious thing to have. I was discharged from hospital and am doing good on medication and have had no further scary episodes. I recovered well at home and gave the PIP line a call asking if they wanted to add my most recent illness to my notes. I was told as you are already getting highest rate for mobility it is not worth messing about changing my claim as I may lose PIP completely and was advised to stay as I was. My biggest problem at the moment is I still have my disability car from Motability but I cannot drive it at the moment as DVLA have put my licence on hold. I have sent DVLA pages of doctors letters saying I have no epilepsy or seizures and am doing fine on my medication. It has been one month since my last recorded delivery letter to DVLA and still no reply and impossible to get through on the phone. It is hopeless as every time I need to go out I have to get a taxi and it is costing me far too much money. It has been like this for the last three months now and I am fed up with it. I don't know who to ask about anything and should I just give the car back as it is not in use it is all a mess. Advice would be great. thank-you.

Hi BIS thank-you for your reply it was good to know that someone at least gave me a reply. The reason I still kept the car was because I didn't know it would take the DVLA so long to reply. I tried DVLA the last two days and the recorded message was not good with them saying that due to high call volume that waiting time was very long and try again another day. It is a nightmare as without the car I am isolated and can only rely on a taxi for transport. It has taken two months for the neuro hospital I was taken to when I had the fall which was miles away from my home area to have appointments now transferred to my local hospital so maybe just a little bit of light on the horizon. I have thought about putting in a formal complaint into the DVLA and will give them one more week to maybe reply. I just am trying to get the energy to do it as I think they want all paperwork and correspondence sent in when you do it. The fall took quite a bit out of me and although feeling much better tons and tons of paper work are not at the top of my list. I suppose if I really want the car I will have to do it but i know I will make my decision soon as having a car doing nothing is wasteful even though I miss it a lot. thank-you anyway.

Hi Emeralshine

I understand how you're feeling about whether you can continue to drive - but were you not advised that whilst you're waiting for DVLA to make a decision, that you could continue to drive? I had a bleed in my brain many years ago now and it took DVLA over 6 months to make the decision on my fitness to continue driving, so am aware of how much the uncertainty can affect one's well-being. As it was, at the time I didn't have a car, nor did I feel well enough to drive so for me, it was less of an issue until I started looking into going back to work, and needed to know if I could apply for jobs that involved driving.

In the end, although I can't drive 'for hire or reward', I can still drive for general getting around. In your situation, I wouldn't be looking to give up the car, but at changing the insurance, so if there are others around who can drive you, they could drive your car for you.

I've recently bought a WAV, and have an any car, any driver policy - which means when I go to visit my mother who lives over 200 miles away, I don't have to go to the trouble and expense of adding specific drivers to my policy. As long as they're over 25 and have held a licence for 3 years, anyone can drive me there and back. And, as you say, even if you pay for someone's time and their expenses for the day, it's still a lot cheaper than trying to travel by taxi.

Just a though.