well i passed the medical and have now received my license back so very happy. For those yet to take the medical follow the advice on this forum and you should pass. I guess a lot comes down to how much you drink and over how long a period so if in doubt maybe get a test done privately first. Anyway good luck to all and i hope you're safely back on the road soon.

Hi jess, the dvla write to you about 3 months before the end of your ban. You complete the d1 form and return it and shortly after that they'll send you details of a dvla registered doctor in your area who you'll need to make an appointment with. With regards as to whether you should completely abstain or not I don't believe the dvla would look at you unfavourably for doing this as most people will want to pass the medical and won't want to risk driking for at least a few weeks before it. Also to show that your able to go long periods without drinking shows a degree of self control\willpower and should help to prove you're not dependant on alcohol. I'm still waiting for my results though so could be completely wrong on this!

I was banned for 18 months & this is up in the first week of April, so a few weeks to go yet. It'll just be a relief to pass the medical, the worst thing is waiting for the results!

Pleased to hear your news Lucy. Still waiting to hear back about my medical but I'm still not drinking a drop until I get confirmation in writing just in case there are any problems and I need to go back for more tests. I'm looking forward to driving my daughter to nursery again soon but it feels like such a long time since I've driven I can't imagine what it will feel like to being driving again.

It's a real pain you had to go back for this Lucy. Have you got your results back now? I had my medical last Friday, the procedure sounds similar to everyone elses experience on here. I didn't drink for 4 weeks before this and took a liver tonic daily which has high levels of milk thistle amongst other ingredients supposed to benefit the liver. I think i'll be ok as i had a private medical in October and all my liver enzyme levels were low. I also don't drink a great deal (12-16 units a week) but i still can't help worrying!

Thanks for the replies. It is pretty handy having these questions posted beforehand as it's quite hard finding out any information about this. Thanks again Vicky. I guess they won't refuse to give the license back based on the answer to one question anyway but I assume they must score them somehow. Also I'm wondering whether they actually know I've had an accident. I mean, does the court give full details of each incident to the DVLA or do they just provide them with the length of the ban and whether or not you're a high risk offender?

Thanks for posting the questions Vicky. I have my medical coming up in January & think I can safely answer no to all these questions except the one about having an accident due to alcohol (I crashed my car whilst over the limit, hence the ban). Does anyone know how seriously DVLA take the answers to these questions? Is it safer just to say that I've had no accidents (are they likely to check?) or just be honest and say yes. I've got no real concerns about the medical itself as I'm not a big drinker at all these days but I want to make sure I don't mess things up with my answers to the questionnaire. Thanks