Driving & Travel
Driving
If you have a driving license, you must tell the DVLA if you have, or are recovering from, Guillain-Barre syndrome. This also applies to CIDP and all associated inflammatory neuropathies.
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"You can be fined up to £1,000 if you don’t tell DVLA about a medical condition that affects your driving. You may be prosecuted if you’re involved in an accident as a result." - gov.uk.
Click below to access a CN1 form,(car or motorcylce), or CN1V (bus, coach, or lorry). Each form is around seven pages long, and should not take you long to fill in. If you have any difficulties, please reach out to us for some support.
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gov.uk
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If you’re in Northern Ireland you must contact the DVA, you can find their address via:
Driver and Vehicle Agency
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and if you're in the Republic of Ireland contact the NDLS via:
National Driver License Service
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Blue Badge/Bus Pass/Train Tickets
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While you're filling in a CN1 or CN1V form, take some time to visit this page that gives you useful advice and links to apply for a Blue Badge in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
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Blue Badge
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It may be that your condition or symptoms has prohibited you from driving. In which case, help is available in the form of a disabled persons bus pass.
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Apply for a Bus Pass
There is also reduced train travel if you are eligible.
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Disabled Persons Rail Card
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Adaptions
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So you're back behind the wheel - fantastic! But you may not feel totally comfortable yet, it may be that your car or vehicle could do with some adaptions. The charity Driving Mobility offer assessments on your capabilities, but also provide information on adaptions like hand controls, or even upgrading to a wheelchair accessible vehicle or automatic transmission.
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Visit Driving Mobility
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Travel
We are often asked to suggest a travel insurance policy for people with a pre-existing medical condition. Although we are unable to recommend or endorse a specific insurance provider, we hope the following information may help you find an affordable policy that is right for you.
GBS
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Guillain-Barre syndrome or GBS (also known as AIDP), is an acute condition. Acute variants include Miller Fisher, AMAN and AMSAN. Although some people are left with residual effects following recovery, the syndrome itself runs a finite course lasting no more than around six weeks, so unless you were diagnosed in the last few weeks, this is something you have had and have recovered from, even if your recovery is not complete.
If you have had GBS in the past, it should not be declared as a pre-existing medical condition because you do not have it now. It is worth noting that a person who has had GBS is considered to be no more at risk of a recurrence than anyone else is of developing GBS for the first time.
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In some cases, you may have to declare GBS if you were ventilated - but only if the insurance policy lists, "any respiratory conditions relating to the lungs or breathing".
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CIDP, MMN, Lewis Sumner..
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Some variants, such as CIDP, are chronic and often follow gradually progressive or a remitting and relapsing course.
Some insurers may have CIDP showing on their systems as ‘Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy’.
Chronic variants include Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (MMN), Lewis Summer / MADSAM, Paraproteinaemia / PDN and CANOMAD. If you have a chronic variant of the syndrome, then this would be classified as a pre-existing medical condition because you have it currently.
It is possible to ask the underwriters to exclude a certain medical condition but bear in mind that you will not be covered for any pre-existing condition that is either not declared or excluded from the policy.
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For detailed guidance on what you should look for in an insurance policy for travel abroad, please go to the GOV.UK website.​​