Paul Jolly: When's the right age to give up driving?

There comes a time for all of us when we have to stop driving for one reason or another.

Even just the talk of revoking your license can be a painful subject but understanding the process may help.

I have been involved in this with a close and elderly family member who has been driving for 75 years with an unblemished record. On becoming confused as to his whereabouts when out shopping during a normal routine trip, his wife refused to accompany him until an examination was made. 

Needless to say, this was not met with much enthusiasm. The NHS system could not book such an appointment for over 6 months so a private £650 mental health assessment was arranged. 

At the end of a one-hour assessment, a 60% cognitive score was achieved using attention, memory, fluency, language and visuospatial tests. Recall and retrieval errors further confirmed a likely Alzheimer dementia which had not been identified beforehand during normal conversation. 

The consultant psychiatrist immediately recommended his license be revoked but the process must be undertaken by means of completing a DVLA form and returning the actual license. Ignoring this directive might lead to prosecution and no insurance in the event of a claim.

Once complete, I am glad to say there was relief all round including, eventually, the gentleman himself who recognised after the event that it was probably time. There are other benefits to consider once the car in question is sold.

No further road tax, insurance fees, parking costs, fuel, vehicle depreciation, service and Mot charges, and potentially a garage space available for other uses. The amount saved can easily add up to £3000 per annum or more and this will go a long way on taxis and other forms of alternative transport. The value of the car can also earn interest on deposit while planning other things like a cruise or family holiday.

But by far the greatest factor in this whole process is the relief for everyone involved that this has been recognised and conducted before some dreadful incident occurs involving other innocent road users.