The absolute state of HGV medicals...
Discussion
Just had my "your 50 so need another medical" letter through from DVLA/DVSA. Go get another medical done because you are 5 years older.
Ok, No problem, phone the Doctors to be told that they cannot do it for 8 weeks ! But its ok, there is a private company doing medicals fairly close by and they are quicker.
Go online and arrange a medical with them, 10 days later, so much faster than my GP can manage and its half the price. Bargain.
The day comes, I go to the hotel that the medical is getting done at and wait with others in a corridor, place is busy, £60 a go.
Get called in and the doctor is a Chinese man, not brilliant at English so is hard to understand, asks me if i drink/do drugs or have anything wrong with me, i say no to all, he then speedruns my medical form using a rubber stamp in many places, does an eye test with a board on the wall, does blood pressure and then 7 minutes after my appointment started I'm out the door and the next guy is being ushered in.
I am pretty sure that this is not what the Govt had in mind when they decided they want us checked over every 5 years, I could have been lying my arse off and had loads of conditions I was not telling them about, so long as my blood pressure was ok and I could read the chart that was the total extent of the "examination".
This is a total waste of £60 and a two hour round trip and the money is going to a private company who must be doing 6 drivers an hour based on the speed the two guys in front and my own "medical" took.
What a lash up.
Ok, No problem, phone the Doctors to be told that they cannot do it for 8 weeks ! But its ok, there is a private company doing medicals fairly close by and they are quicker.
Go online and arrange a medical with them, 10 days later, so much faster than my GP can manage and its half the price. Bargain.
The day comes, I go to the hotel that the medical is getting done at and wait with others in a corridor, place is busy, £60 a go.
Get called in and the doctor is a Chinese man, not brilliant at English so is hard to understand, asks me if i drink/do drugs or have anything wrong with me, i say no to all, he then speedruns my medical form using a rubber stamp in many places, does an eye test with a board on the wall, does blood pressure and then 7 minutes after my appointment started I'm out the door and the next guy is being ushered in.
I am pretty sure that this is not what the Govt had in mind when they decided they want us checked over every 5 years, I could have been lying my arse off and had loads of conditions I was not telling them about, so long as my blood pressure was ok and I could read the chart that was the total extent of the "examination".
This is a total waste of £60 and a two hour round trip and the money is going to a private company who must be doing 6 drivers an hour based on the speed the two guys in front and my own "medical" took.
What a lash up.
MCA medicals for seafarers are the same; some examiners are really just certificate mills, unless you have a wooden leg or literally have a coronary in their office you'll come out with a new ticket in 30 minutes in exchange for £120 or whatever it is now. Some of the blimps I see waddling up gangways in Aberdeen I wonder how the medics don't get busted, when they turn red and start wheezing after a single flight of stairs or struggle to fit through doors they're a danger to themselves and anyone unlucky enough to share a ship with them.
Speak to other drivers in your area, there will probably be a doctor (not part of company) who specialises in industrial medicals.
I use one such, half the price my own NHS doctor would charge (funny how you can't get a NHS appointment to see a real doc but instantly available for £140ish medical), but by specialising in such medicals always gets the paperwork right and does a thorough job.
I use one such, half the price my own NHS doctor would charge (funny how you can't get a NHS appointment to see a real doc but instantly available for £140ish medical), but by specialising in such medicals always gets the paperwork right and does a thorough job.
hidetheelephants said:
MCA medicals for seafarers are the same; some examiners are really just certificate mills, unless you have a wooden leg or literally have a coronary in their office you'll come out with a new ticket in 30 minutes in exchange for £120 or whatever it is now. Some of the blimps I see waddling up gangways in Aberdeen I wonder how the medics don't get busted, when they turn red and start wheezing after a single flight of stairs or struggle to fit through doors they're a danger to themselves and anyone unlucky enough to share a ship with them.
Yeah and there are others who restrict an ENG.1 at the drop of a hat. Chap I sailed with, easily one of the fittest people I have ever met, rugby player at a good level & runner got restricted ENG.1 for his BMI being >30. 
s p a c e m a n said:
Medical? I've just spent £165 and have to sit indoors for the next 3 Sundays to stare at my phone trying to stay awake for 7 hours whilst some bloke bores me with CPC bulls
t 
The MCA have that beaten too; seafarers have regular mandatory death by powerpoint sessions, except we still have to turn up and sit in a classroom.t Smint said:
Speak to other drivers in your area, there will probably be a doctor (not part of company) who specialises in industrial medicals.
I use one such, half the price my own NHS doctor would charge (funny how you can't get a NHS appointment to see a real doc but instantly available for £140ish medical), but by specialising in such medicals always gets the paperwork right and does a thorough job.
Funny but you are absolutely wrong.I use one such, half the price my own NHS doctor would charge (funny how you can't get a NHS appointment to see a real doc but instantly available for £140ish medical), but by specialising in such medicals always gets the paperwork right and does a thorough job.
Mrs. AM is a GP partner.
Each partner does 1 HGV medical per week.End of.
Money genuinely has nothing to do with it.
Proper HGV medical takes ages and earns pittance.
ArmaghMan said:
Each partner does 1 HGV medical per week.End of.
Money genuinely has nothing to do with it.
Proper HGV medical takes ages and earns pittance.
Thats the point though. Very easy not to get a "proper" one...even if you wanted to.Money genuinely has nothing to do with it.
Proper HGV medical takes ages and earns pittance.
My first one was as some describe above where I went into a makeshift office in a doctor's garage on a Sat. In and out in less than 10 minutes with no actual checks done.
I seem to remember a HGV medical company being shut down for it a few years ago and anyone that had medicals with them that had not already submitted them were told they were void and they needed to go elsewhere. The problem is that there is dozens of these companies using hundreds of doctors to do "friendly" medicals. Most of the time not even at the driver's request, just to get as many punters through the door.
Sorry to drag this one up again..... i don't come on here much......
I thought you had to have your first medical (ignoring the the one you have before you pass the driving test) when you reached 45 years old, then 50 etc etc.
Ive sailed past my 45th birthday and not heard anything from the DVLA and my 46th is now not far away, i checked my licence, the HGV entitlement expires the end of January 2026... by then i will be approaching my 47th birthday, is that normal/right?
Im assuming i will get a letter telling me to go to the dodgy doc medical a month or so before my licence needs renewing?
I asked my transport manager and he just shrugged and said if your licence is in date and ive not heard anything from the DVLA then just carry on.
I thought you had to have your first medical (ignoring the the one you have before you pass the driving test) when you reached 45 years old, then 50 etc etc.
Ive sailed past my 45th birthday and not heard anything from the DVLA and my 46th is now not far away, i checked my licence, the HGV entitlement expires the end of January 2026... by then i will be approaching my 47th birthday, is that normal/right?
Im assuming i will get a letter telling me to go to the dodgy doc medical a month or so before my licence needs renewing?
I asked my transport manager and he just shrugged and said if your licence is in date and ive not heard anything from the DVLA then just carry on.
GEARJAMMER said:
Sorry to drag this one up again..... i don't come on here much......
I thought you had to have your first medical (ignoring the the one you have before you pass the driving test) when you reached 45 years old, then 50 etc etc.
Ive sailed past my 45th birthday and not heard anything from the DVLA and my 46th is now not far away, i checked my licence, the HGV entitlement expires the end of January 2026... by then i will be approaching my 47th birthday, is that normal/right?
Im assuming i will get a letter telling me to go to the dodgy doc medical a month or so before my licence needs renewing?
I asked my transport manager and he just shrugged and said if your licence is in date and ive not heard anything from the DVLA then just carry on.
You’ll need a medical before the expiry date of your HGV entitlements on the back of your licence. If it says 2026 then you are fine to drive until then. I thought you had to have your first medical (ignoring the the one you have before you pass the driving test) when you reached 45 years old, then 50 etc etc.
Ive sailed past my 45th birthday and not heard anything from the DVLA and my 46th is now not far away, i checked my licence, the HGV entitlement expires the end of January 2026... by then i will be approaching my 47th birthday, is that normal/right?
Im assuming i will get a letter telling me to go to the dodgy doc medical a month or so before my licence needs renewing?
I asked my transport manager and he just shrugged and said if your licence is in date and ive not heard anything from the DVLA then just carry on.
DVLA will usually write to you about 6 weeks before it’s due.
GEARJAMMER said:
Sorry to drag this one up again..... i don't come on here much......
I thought you had to have your first medical (ignoring the the one you have before you pass the driving test) when you reached 45 years old, then 50 etc etc.
Ive sailed past my 45th birthday and not heard anything from the DVLA and my 46th is now not far away, i checked my licence, the HGV entitlement expires the end of January 2026... by then i will be approaching my 47th birthday, is that normal/right?
Im assuming i will get a letter telling me to go to the dodgy doc medical a month or so before my licence needs renewing?
I asked my transport manager and he just shrugged and said if your licence is in date and ive not heard anything from the DVLA then just carry on.
Yep your fine, im in the same boat with mine, i was 47 last Sept and mines due this year in May or June. I thought you had to have your first medical (ignoring the the one you have before you pass the driving test) when you reached 45 years old, then 50 etc etc.
Ive sailed past my 45th birthday and not heard anything from the DVLA and my 46th is now not far away, i checked my licence, the HGV entitlement expires the end of January 2026... by then i will be approaching my 47th birthday, is that normal/right?
Im assuming i will get a letter telling me to go to the dodgy doc medical a month or so before my licence needs renewing?
I asked my transport manager and he just shrugged and said if your licence is in date and ive not heard anything from the DVLA then just carry on.
I had to pull my DL out to check my PCV/minibus entitlements and had a look at my C/CE expiry just out of curiosity. I don't drive vocationally now but my licence expires (4b, on the front) in September 2026 and that is also the 'valid to' date for my C and CE classes. September 2026 will make me 49.5 yrs then and I haven't received anything from Swansea about needing a medical (I haven't had one since I first applied at 20 yrs old) so presumably I'm still legal to drive. My other cats all have 'valid to' dates when I'll turn 70.
Everything I've read online says you must have a fresh medical once you hit 45 but this doesn't seem to be the case. My September expiry date does not have any correlation to the dates when I passed any of my tests either, so no idea why I've got a seemingly random expiry date 4.5 years after the date when my medical renewal was supposedly due.
Keep Calm and Carry On ?
Everything I've read online says you must have a fresh medical once you hit 45 but this doesn't seem to be the case. My September expiry date does not have any correlation to the dates when I passed any of my tests either, so no idea why I've got a seemingly random expiry date 4.5 years after the date when my medical renewal was supposedly due.
Keep Calm and Carry On ?
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