by Ceren Sagir

PEOPLE with medical conditions and disabilities are suffering “gross discrimination” from the DVLA, with waiting times for licence applications taking months, ministers were warned today.

Concerns have been raised in Parliament over the agency’s performance given the impact it is having on people’s lives.

SNP MP Peter Grant said that he is aware of at least one case of someone waiting 10 months, “quite a few” waiting six months and of “several” losing conditional job offers due to the waiting times.

One 60-year-old HGV driver said that he lost his job as a result of a five-month wait while renewing his licence.

Mr Grant said the contrast in service for those with and those without medical conditions is “almost certainly unlawful” and warned that the government could be facing “a massive compensation bill if they do not get their act together pronto.”

Speaking in the Commons, he labelled the situation “gross discrimination against people who have to declare a medical condition,” saying they are forced to use an “outdated manual system” rather than the online one.

Jennifer Kirchacz, 17, from Fife, who has epilepsy but says she meets the criteria for a driving licence, has been waiting seven months.

Her mother, Julie Brownlie, said: “I’m all for them checking with the specialists, but they need to do it in a timely way and not discriminate against people who have a condition.”

As of February 4, there were 178,926 driving licence renewal applications that had taken 10 weeks or more, according to transport minister Trudy Harrison.

The DVLA has acknowledged that the “vast majority” of applicants waiting 10 weeks or more have a medical condition that must be investigated, with successful online applicants receiving their licence within days.