Hi Jaimz
No, don't worry. It's all a bit of a moot point anyway, if you've not been involved in any accidents or made any claims, there's nothing at all to be gained by looking back retrospectively.
The system for medical notifications to the DVLA is that you're under a legal requirement to notify them of an advisable medical condition
when you become aware of it. I'm assuming that up until now, you've not been given any specific advice from an optomertist or other clinician to notify the DVLA (it would put a different complexion on things if you had and then willfully ignored it !). I'm also assuming that you meet the legal minimum standard of vision for driving (with glasses or contact lenses if needed) and that you wear these when driving. If so, you've done everything you were expected to do and it is only once your condition deteriorated that you suspected you had to advise the DVLA because of the reduced visual acuity. As soon as you became aware of it, you acted promptly (or you will now act promptly
)
Worth a seperate mention about the role of the Optometrist. I'd guess -- and it is only my guess -- that they would be expected as part of their duties to advise patients when they fail to meet the legal standard of vision for driving. But I don't think they're under any defined obligation to give advice and guidance about DVLA notification apart from that. Basically, they are there to deal with your eyes and not provide information on the law and driving. If we drive, it's up to us to know the law and to be aware of the legal requirements such as those for the minimum standard of vision and the need to notify the DVLA of medical conditions that we have to tell them about. If any optometrist knows more on this point, be very interested the learn about it.
As for insurers, there's no direct legal implications. The industry's stance (to the DVLA) is as follows:
The majority of the motor insurance industry does not request extensive medical information from its customers but relies on the fact that if DVLA has had disclosed to it a medical condition that should have been disclosed and has
subsequently issued a driving licence, the person concerned would meet the medical standards of fitness to drive.In other words, they defer the whole thing to the DVLA. They rely on the need to disclose to the DVLA and the DVLA's subsequent assessment about whether they are satisfied to let you hold a licence. Of course, looking at this in reverse, if you fail to disclose to the DVLA and/or the DVLA then revokes your licence, you're driving without valid insurance because you need to hold a full licence -- which
is an offence. But anyway, the same applies -- so long as you notifty the DVLA when you're supposed to that's all you can be expected to do.
The one grey area is what happens when you're in limbo, having notificed the DVLA but not had a decision. There, as I've suggested, it is a very good idea to talk to the insurer to make certain they are happy to continue cover while you're waiting. If they do revoke cover and you still wish to drive, then there are specialist insurance providers (who maintain teams of medical advisors) who you can ask for a quote from. It might cost more (because the provider is going to the trouble of assessing more complex medical underwriting) but they could be a useful stop-gap. Anyway, start off with your current insurer and go from there.
If there's any other factors involved that might complicate things that you've not mentioned or don't feel able to mention here, then you might need to obtain some legal advice which I'm not qualified to give. But if things are as you've detailed, like I said at the top, you've nothing at all to worry about.
Kind regards
Chris
