{"id":618419,"date":"2026-06-03T06:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/618419\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:35:11","slug":"dvla-confirms-9-prescription-medications-that-could-see-you-banned-from-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/618419\/","title":{"rendered":"DVLA confirms 9 prescription medications that could see you banned from driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a range of medications that can severely impair a person’s ability to drive and trigger automatic driving bans\"Man<\/p>\n

There are some prescription medications that can lead to drivers receiving a ban(Image: juefraphoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The DVLA has published a full list of 14 commonly prescribed medications that can trigger automatic driving bans. Numerous everyday medicines can significantly compromise a person’s capability to drive safely.<\/p>\n

Driving while unfit due to being under the influence of legal or illegal drugs is against the law, as is having certain levels of illegal substances in your bloodstream \u2013 regardless of whether they’ve affected your driving ability.<\/p>\n

The DVLA adds: “It’s illegal in England, Scotland and Wales to drive with legal drugs in your body if it impairs your driving. It’s an offence to drive if you have over the specified limits of certain drugs in your blood and you have not been prescribed them.”<\/p>\n

Prosecution may follow if you drive with particular levels of these substances in your system without a valid prescription.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the then Conservative Party government introduced a new offence relating to driving with a specific controlled substance in the body exceeding that drug’s accepted threshold, reports Birmingham Live<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The objective was to minimise expense, effort and time lost from failed prosecutions stemming from difficulties in proving a specific drug had impaired a motorist.<\/p>\n

On 2 March 2015, 8 generally prescription and 8 illicit drugs were incorporated into new regulations that took effect in England and Wales. Regulations concerning amphetamine took effect on April 14, 2015.<\/p>\n

The DVLA advises you must consult your doctor regarding whether you should drive if you’ve been prescribed any of the following medications:<\/p>\n

Amphetamines like Dexamphetamine and Selegiline Clonazepam<\/p>\n

Diazepam<\/p>\n

Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol, rarely prescribed but heavily restricted)<\/p>\n

Lorazepam (Ativan, used for severe anxiety)<\/p>\n

Methadone (used for opioid dependency recovery)<\/p>\n

Morphine or Opioid-based drugs like Codeine, Tramadol and Fentanyl<\/p>\n

Oxazepam<\/p>\n

Temazepam<\/p>\n

Should you drive while taking prescribed medication, it would be advisable to carry documentation confirming this in the event that you are pulled over by police.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are a range of medications that can severely impair a person’s ability to drive and trigger automatic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[924,13706,102,6591,62376,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-618419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-crime","tag-driving-law","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-motors","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618419","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=618419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}