The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has published a comprehensive list of 189 medical conditions that drivers must declare, or risk a fine of up to £1,000. The DVLA maintains nearly 53 million driver records and warns that any medical condition affecting driving ability must be reported.
Legal Obligation and Penalties
The DVLA states: "You need to tell DVLA about some medical conditions as they can affect your driving. You can be fined up to £1,000 if you do not tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving." Drivers may also voluntarily surrender their licence if their doctor advises stopping driving for three months or more, their condition impairs safe driving for three months or more, or they fail to meet required driving standards due to a medical condition.
Full List of Notifiable Conditions
The conditions range from common issues like diabetes and high blood pressure to rare neurological disorders. The list includes:
- Absence seizures, acoustic neuroma, agoraphobia, alcohol problems, Alzheimer’s disease
- Amaurosis fugax, amputations, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), angina, angioplasty
- Ankylosing spondylitis, anorexia nervosa, anxiety, aortic aneurysm, aortic stenosis
- Arachnoid cyst, arrhythmia, atrial defibrillator, arteriovenous malformation, arthritis
- Asperger syndrome, ataxia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic spectrum condition
- Balloon angioplasty (leg), bipolar disorder, blackouts, blepharospasm, blood clots
- Blood pressure, brachial plexus injury, brain abscess/cyst/encephalitis, brain aneurysm, brain angioma
- Brain haemorrhage, brain injury (traumatic), brain tumours, broken limbs, Brugada syndrome
- Burr hole surgery, caesarean section, cancer, cataracts, catheter ablation
- Cardiac problems, carotid artery stenosis, cataplexy, cavernoma, central venous thrombosis
- Cerebral palsy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Chiari malformation, chronic aortic dissection
- Cognitive problems, congenital heart disease, convulsions, coronary artery bypass/disease, coronary angioplasty
- Cranial nerve palsy (with double vision), cystic fibrosis, deafness, defibrillator, déjà vu
- Dementia, depression, diabetes, dilated cardiomyopathy, diplopia (double vision)
- Dizziness, drug misuse, eating disorders, empyema (brain), epilepsy
- Essential tremor, eye conditions, fainting, fits, fractured skull
- Friedreich’s ataxia, glaucoma, global amnesia, grand mal seizures, Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Head injury, heart attack, heart arrhythmia, heart failure, heart murmurs
- Heart palpitations, heart valve disease/replacement valve, high blood pressure, HIV or AIDS, Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Huntington’s disease, hydrocephalus, hypertension, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hypoglycaemia
- Hypoxic brain damage, hysterectomy, implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), intracerebral haemorrhage
- Ischaemic heart disease, kidney dialysis, kidney problems, Korsakoff’s syndrome, labyrinthitis
- Learning difficulties, left bundle branch block, leukaemia, Lewy body dementia, limb disability
- Long QT syndrome, loss of an eye, low blood glucose (sugar), lumboperitoneal shunt, lung cancer
- Lymphoma, macular degeneration, malignant brain tumours, malignant melanoma, manic depressive psychosis
- Marfan’s syndrome, medulloblastoma, memory problems (severe), meningioma, mini-stroke
- Monocular vision (sight in one eye only), motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy
- Myasthenia gravis, myocardial infarction, myoclonus, narcolepsy, night blindness
- Obsessive compulsive disorder, obstructive sleep apnoea, ocular myasthenia gravis (with double vision)
- Ophthalmoplegia (with double vision), pacemakers, palpitations, paranoia, paranoid schizophrenia
- Paraplegia, Parkinson’s disease, peripheral arterial disease, peripheral neuropathy, personality disorder
- Petit mal seizures, pituitary tumour, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychosis, psychotic depression
- Pulmonary arterial hypertension, renal dialysis, retinal artery fugax, retinitis pigmentosa
- Retinopathy (with laser treatment), schizo-affective disorder, schizophrenia, scotoma, seizures
- Severe communication disorders, severe depression, sight in one eye only, sleep apnoea
- Sleepiness (excessive), spinal problems and injuries, stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage, surgery
- Syncope, tachycardia, temporal lobe epilepsy, tonic clonic fits, Tourette’s syndrome
- Transient global amnesia, transient ischaemic attack, tunnel vision, Usher syndrome
- Valve disease/replacement valve, ventricular defibrillator, vertigo, vision in one eye only
- Visual acuity (reduced), visual field defect, VP shunts, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
What Happens After You Report
Drivers will receive a decision by letter. The DVLA may contact your doctor or consultant, arrange a medical examination, or ask you to take a driving assessment, eyesight test, or driving test. The DVLA adds: "Your application may take longer than usual if it needs to be referred to a doctor (unless you’re applying for a bus or lorry licence). You can usually keep driving while DVLA are considering your application."
