DVLA and driving licence

Over the last few years, I have been allowed to carry on driving, providing my licence is renewed every year, after medical enquiries. I had no plroblems with this, until this year, and got a shock.

My licence expired in January due to medical checks. 

My wife contacted the DVLA on two occasions and was told that these enquiries would take another 9 weeks to complete, so that now 18 weeks in total.

We are is 5 months down the line, and this is still going on

Last week I wrote a long email to them because I was concerned it was taking so long to process.

Up till now they have not even acknowledged that they received it, let alone answered my questions.

When my wife rang up she was told quite forcefully, that as long as the doctor agreed it was safe for me to drive, I could legally carry on driving, something which seemed very odd because at the end of the day, if your licence has expired for what ever reason, you are not supposed to drive.

I was very worried that this was wrong, and after discussing it with my daughter I was told that the insurance company may well class my insurance as null and void.

I have since been told that if I am caught behind the wheel by the police, I could face a hefty fine up to £1,000 plus a ban.

Not only that, but our insurance went up to allow me to drive, yet we have paid this money out, and I still cannot drive through some government department dragging its feet.

I do wonder if this department knows the driving regulations, or if they are playing with people's lives

I understand that many government departments have had their staff cut back to the minimum through this government, but surely it does not take all of this time to get an answer. 

Luckily for me, I have not driven for some time, because I understood it was illegal to drive when your licence has expired, but I find the whole process to be distressing and wrong. 

If they were stopping me from driving they should have done so in january, not drag it out like this

This makes me angry because I do wonder how many others could have been caught out, by thinking that they were legally safe to drive