Young Mid Sussex mother who suffered cardiac arrest in 2020 does not have driving licence back after more than two years

Sarah Edmonds, 34, of The Sycamores in Sayers Common, said she experienced the life-threatening heart condition in December 2020, adding that her husband James gave her CPR until an ambulance arrived.

She was taken into intensive care at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and had an internal defibrillator fitted.

"If my heart goes out of rhythm again it shocks it to put my heart back into rhythm,” said Sarah, who has a young daughter.

Sarah, who works as a recruitment manager, was told that people who suffer a cardiac arrest are not allowed to drive for six months afterwards, a rule she said she ‘completely understands’. She added that her defibrillator gave her a shock in July 2021, after which she was diagnosed with prolonged QT syndrome. She said she then experienced two more defibrillator shocks in quick succession in February 2022.

But Sarah told the Middy: “Since then I go for regular blood tests and we’ve been able to get the mixture of supplements that I take and medication right so I haven’t had a shock since February 2022.”

She said this meant she could apply for her driving licence in August 2022, which she did. “It’s basically been a nightmare ever since,” said Sarah, adding that she has still not received her licence.

The DVLA told this newspaper that they aim to make decisions about driving licence applications quickly. But Sarah said it feels like she is trapped in a ‘no man’s land’ between the DVLA and the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

She explained: “The process is that the DVLA sends a form to my consultant, and my consultant signs the form and returns it to the DVLA saying ‘yes Sarah hasn’t had a shock and she is medically fit to drive’.

Sarah said she learned in December 2022 that there was a backlog of forms with her consultant and got in contact with Andrew Griffith, MP for Arundel and South Downs, who helped speed the process up. She said the form was returned to the DVLA but then said the DVLA wanted more information and wrote to the consultant again.

She said: “I called them (the DVLA) and asked what’s going on. They said they needed more information. I asked them what information they needed and they said they couldn’t tell me, which seems crazy because it’s information about me.”

She added: “I’m in the middle and I don’t know where to go with it.”

Sarah said she wants her licence back soon because the situation is ‘upsetting’ and because she now has to walk a 75-minute round-trip every day to take her daughter to school.

A DVLA spokesperson said: “When considering an application to issue a driving licence, we aim to make a decision as quickly as possible. However, when we require additional information from a medical professional or the driver themselves, we are wholly reliant on receiving this information before a decision can be made.”

The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust was also approached for comment.