DVLA list of 189 medical conditions to report or risk up to £1,000 fine

The DVLA needs to be notified about some medical conditions as they can affect your driving
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)


You need to tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) about some medical conditions as they can affect your driving. If you are unsure whether you should inform the DVLA, the government website advises you should if you develop a ‘notifiable’ medical condition or disability and if a condition or disability has got worse since you got your licence.

It is risky not informing the DVLA as soon as possible, you could be fined up to £1,000 if you do not announce a condition that might affect your ability to drive safely. Drivers could also be prosecuted if an accident happens.

Drivers must surrender their licence if a doctor tells them to stop driving for three months or more, your medical condition affects your ability to drive safely and lasts for more than three months or you do not meet the required standards for driving because of your medical condition.

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After you inform the DVLA you will receive a letter with a decision about whether you can keep your license. They might contact your doctor or consultant, arrange for you to be examined or ask you to take a driving assessment, or an eyesight or driving test. You can usually keep driving while your application is being considered.

If you’re told to stop driving, you can send DVLA more medical evidence, reapply for your driving licence (if your letter says you can reapply) or appeal the decision. Having or being diagnosed with one of the listed conditions does not necessarily mean you need to report it to the DVLA.

Some conditions may have additional factors that need declaring. There are medical conditions that will only need to be declared if they affect a person's driving ability or if they have been told to stop driving by a doctor. These include mental health and high blood pressure among others.

Certain medical conditions will only need to be declared if the driver owns a certain licence. For example a bus, lorry or coach, you will need to report illnesses such as kidney problems, or transient global amnesia, among others, whereas those with a car licence will not.

Full list of medical conditions to report to DVLA

  • Absence seizures

  • Acoustic neuroma

  • Addison’s disease

  • Agoraphobia

  • AIDS

  • Alcohol problems

  • Alzheimer’s disease

  • Amaurosis fugax

  • Amputations

  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

  • Angina

  • Angioplasty

  • Ankylosing spondylitis

  • Anorexia nervosa

  • Anxiety

  • Aortic aneurysm

  • 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 or encephalitis

  • Brain aneurysm

  • Brain angioma

  • Brain haemorrhage

  • Brain injury (traumatic)

  • Brain tumours

  • Broken limbs

  • Brugada syndrome

  • Burr hole surgery

  • Caesarean section

  • Cancer (leukaemia is listed separately below)

  • 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 or disease

  • Coronary angioplasty

  • Cranial nerve palsy (with double vision)

  • Cystic fibrosis

  • Deafness

  • Defibrillator (implanted)

  • Déjà vu

  • Dementia

  • Depression

  • Diabetes

  • Dilated cardiomyopathy

  • Diplopia (double vision)

  • Dizziness

  • Drug misuse

  • Eating disorders

  • Empyema (brain)

  • Epilepsy

  • Essential tremor

  • 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 or replacement valve

  • High blood pressure

  • HIV

  • 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 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 (if you are post-operation)

  • Syncope

  • Tachycardia

  • Temporal lobe epilepsy

  • Tonic clonic fits

  • Tourette’s syndrome

  • Transient global amnesia

  • Transient ischaemic attack

  • Tunnel vision

  • Usher syndrome

  • Valve disease or replacement valve

  • Ventricular defibrillator

  • Vertigo

  • Vision in one eye only

  • Visual acuity (reduced)

  • Visual field defect

  • VP shunts

  • Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome