Hello,

My dad, who recently turned 80, has recently been discharged from hospital following a five week stay caused to a brain hemorrhage he sustained after a fall. Whilst he’s not yet physically strong enough to drive, I am concerned that he may try to do so and cause an accident with all the liability issues that will ensue. Is there any requirement to inform your car insurer in the event of a hospital stay of this type?

I ask as I am an expat with no UK driving insurance and am unaware of the legal requirements in the UK.

Check the dvla website it has a list of medical conditions that have to be declared and what restrictions are imposed.

Sister recently had a brain hemorrhage and was told not to drive by her consultant. Once her consultant gave her the all clear to drive again she informed her insurers of what had happened.

They were happy for her to drive on the consultants say so. My sister did have all this confirmed in writing just to be on the safe side.

Contracts for insurance are “contracts of utmost faith”. The insured has to declare to the insurer any information that a reasonable insurer might require. This fits into that category I would say.

The insurance isn’t really the problem. It’s the increased likelihood of a crash.

I was very happy when my mum resisted the pressure from her friends and sold her car. It had spent a year sitting on the drive whilst she waited to get better but she made the decision that she wasn’t ever going to be safe to drive again.

As per liftman – it’s a dvla matter and then if it’s notifiable to the dvla it is then notifiable to the insurer.

The hospital should be able to guide as to whether he’s considered medically fit to drive which is what the dvla is predominantly interested in.

Make sense to just contact the insurance company to cover all the bases. I know when i had a license it was part of the T&C to inform them of any changes to medical conditions

This is from the DVLA website

DVLA

They also need to be informed

I believe you have to declare your fitness to drive every few years after 70 and inform DVLA if your health deteriorates such that you are not fit to drive. It’s a self declaration though. Even checking eye sight is still okay to read number plates at the require distance etc is purely down to you to get an eye test and on renewal state you’re okay to drive.

Though if the declaration is false then your insurance would probably be invalidated.

If he insists on driving, suggest at least cutting back on it. Daylight driving, just local trips to the shops, take public transport wherever possible.

Promote the things you could do going on trips via public transport and the less stress that’s involved. Many feel they’re going to be housebound if they can’t drive.

DVLA Fitness_to_drive.pdf

The bleeding was caused by the fact he is on blood thinners, not a stroke or anything. I’ll ask by sister to contact the specialist. As I am abroad, I’m unable to get any information over the phone from the hospital.

Thanks for the replies, I’ve got a clearer picture as to what to do.

I’d expect brain hemmorage has to be notifiable to Dvla (same/ similar to aneurysm yes?) And insurer.

My former FIL had an aneurysm in his 50s and driving was a definite no go on advice of medics and had to tell DVLA.

@murray. Not any more. CIDRA has been governing consumer law since 2013/2014 and the Insurance Act replaces the Marine Insurance Act 1906 wef august this year.

Both scrap Utmost Good Faith, CIDRA more so than the Insurance Act. No longer does a consumer have to tell an insurer anything they are not specifically asked and they only have to make a reasonable attempt to answer the questions to the best of their knowledge.

The remedies for non disclosure and breach of condition/breach of warranty are much changed also.

Generally disclosure to insurers only occurs at inception, MTA or renewal stage now as this is these are the only opportunities an insurer gets to ask questions.

There is no ongoing duty of disclosure hence why it’s more a dvla issue. If the dvla revoke or suspend a license then you can’t drive anyway regardless of insurance issues.

The Insurance Act replaces Utmost Good Faith with Fair Presentation which is somewhat more in depth.

The hospital should be able to guide as to whether he’s considered medically fit to drive which is what the dvla is predominantly interested in.

Sort of – they can determine whether the condition is on the list of notifiable conditions. Determining whether he’s fit to drive with that condition is a bit more involving. The NHS do Driving Assessments that his GP can get him an appointment for. I had to do one after damaging nerves in my legs. Consists of a physical, mental tests (memory tests, perception etc – a bit like doing an IQ test) then a fixed rig simulator to test things like peripheral vision, reaction speed, how quickly and how hard you can press the brake pedal etc and then a practical test out on the road.

Makes the test you had to do in the first place to get a driving lesson seem a bit, err, cursory. 🙂