{"id":476844,"date":"2026-03-15T11:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/476844\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T11:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:32:08","slug":"dvla-could-ban-drivers-on-three-common-medications-full-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/476844\/","title":{"rendered":"DVLA could &#8216;ban&#8217; drivers on three common medications &#8211; full list"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DVLA officials may tell road users to &#8220;avoid driving&#8221; if they get behind the wheel under the influence of common medications.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"DVLA could 'ban' drivers on three common medications - full list\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_medication.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"DVLA could 'ban' drivers on three common medications - full list\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">DVLA could &#8216;ban&#8217; drivers on three common medications &#8211; full list<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The DVLA may &#8220;ban&#8221; drivers on any of some common medications. DVLA officials may tell road users to &#8220;avoid driving&#8221; if they get behind the wheel under the influence of common medications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Greg Wilson, motoring expert at Quotezone.co.uk has warned: \u201cIf you are on strong medications, it is likely that you will be recommended to avoid driving.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Greg highlighted three medications as being at particular risk: opioid painkillers, tranquillisers, and certain antidepressants. He said these &#8220;are examples of medicines that can affect driving ability \u2013 as well as those that cause drowsiness or say \u2018do not operate heavy machinery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/travel\/new-british-passport-rule-now-33592749\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">READ MORE New British Passport rule now in force after Home Office u-turn<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">You only need to tell DVLA if your depression affects your ability to drive safely under DVLA rules. You can be fined up to \u00a31,000 if you do not tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving, the DVLA says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">And you may be prosecuted if you\u2019re involved in an accident as a result. Ask your doctor if you\u2019re not sure if your depression will affect your driving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/all-about\/labour-party\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Labour Party<\/a> government website said: \u201cIt\u2019s illegal in England, Scotland and Wales to drive with legal drugs in your body if it impairs your driving.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Under DVLA rules, you must tell DVLA if you have a driving licence and you develop a \u2018notifiable\u2019 medical condition or disability OR a condition or disability has got worse since you got your licence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">You must surrender your licence to DVLA if your doctor tells you to stop driving for 3 months or more, your medical condition affects your ability to drive safely and lasts for 3 months or more or you do not meet the required standards for driving because of your medical condition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The government website added: \u201cTalk to your doctor about whether you should drive if you\u2019ve been prescribed any of the following drugs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">And the RAC explained: \u201cFailing to inform the DVLA of a medical condition and a prescription that can affect your driving can see you fined as much as \u00a31,000.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DVLA officials may tell road users to &#8220;avoid driving&#8221; if they get behind the wheel under the influence&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[10270,102,6591,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-476844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-dvla","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}