Getting your Driver Medical paperwork right

Getting the paperwork right is a vital part of making sure your renewal or new license grant go as you would like them to. The DVLA have a backlog of applications and renewals which seems to be leading to D4 forms arriving at best a few days before the renewal date, leaving very little time to organise your medical and get your form sent back.

The first thing to do is to take control of things yourself- make sure you are aware of your renewal date and act early. If you know your renewal is about to become due, or will be due in the next couple of months, you can act now.

Next- know your paperwork. Usually you will need a D4(below) and a D2, which is a green form that you can pick up from the post office (usually it comes in an envelope with a D4, but read on for a note of caution…..

Your D4 form should look like this one, which is the current version. Unfortunately, over recent years, the DVLA have issued a number of new versions of the form, which they gradually phase out and refuse to accept. The problem is that they don`t always tell everyone, lots of clients come to us with forms collected from the post office or their employer that are actually out of date (anything that doesn`t look like this won`t be accepted). The best way to get a D4 if you don`t have one already is to download and print one from gov.uk, which can be found here

The form is very helpfully laid out so that you can easily tell which bits you need to fill in- anything coloured grey is for the driver to complete, you will find a section for your personal details and your GP`s details on the front page and at the bottom of every page is a section for your name and date of birth. On the back page is a signature block that needs to be completed whilst you are with the doctor.

The form, once completed, has to be with the DVLA within 4 months of completion, so you really can get ahead of the game if you know your renewal is due soon.  Check your expiry dates well in advance and book your appointment early to make sure you don`t have any gaps.

You can see what appointments we have available at our website