Fighting Bureaucracy

Over the past couple of weeks I have been doing an ‘action’ to help someone who was unable to help himself.

The problem started when VicRoads suspended his license because they thought that he was mentally unfit to drive and that he had epilepsy. This is fair enough to some extent, as the last we want is people on the road that can put other road users in danger. But their suspicion was not well founded, as all he did was stop in a friends driveway to take a power nap (as recommended by the TAC) and they automatically assumed he had epilepsy. So they requested him to get a medical report from a medical practitioner to prove that he was fit to drive. He passed the medical test and subsequently submitted it to vicRoads, but they were not satisfied with the report by a ‘registered’ doctor who is under certain legal obligations and can be civilly liable.

The Vic Roads Medical Review Section requested that he submit a Neurologist Report to support his application for the re-issue of his driver’s license.

In response to this request, he consulted with the relevant specialist (at his own expense) and was referred to have an MRI scan far from where he lived. Upon medical determination of the MRI results, the doctor concluded that he was fit to drive safely and that there were no abnormalities in his brain that were detected. Funny enough, this report was misplaced after being sent to Vic roads and some time later, realizing the possibility of a departmental communication error, he sent a letter to the doctor requesting that he resend the medical report to Vic Roads. After it had finally been received, they concluded that it was still insufficient.

They then requested that he provide a further report from a Psychiatrist in order for his application to be once again considered. So he went to a Psychiatrist and once again obtained a satisfactory report, but Vic Roads was once again not satisfied. They then required him to undertake a neuropsychological assessment, which would be very costly and a great inconvenience. It’s little wonder he is reluctant to obtain this neuropsychological report, as it still probably wouldn’t be sufficient.

This saga has been going on for more than 3 years now and the unnecessary time-consuming back and forth sending of reports has meant that this perfectly healthy law-abiding citizen has had his livelihood locked in shackles for 3 years too long. I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for him, so I decided to act.

I first investigated the problem and after reading the relevant laws, had found that Vic Roads had broken their own regulations, regulations that they made under their delegated statutory power. I then constructed a very long and assertive letter which I sent to Vic Roads on behalf of the victim outlining the facts of the case, points of law that would assist in the case he decided to take legal action against Vic Roads, and other alternative avenues he was considering to put an end to the saga.

After 3 years of treating him like a …(I don’t know the word)…, lying to him, giving him different stories on each occasion he made an enquiry and so forth, they finally took notice and realized the importance of the issue after 3 years of not doing so. Although the statutory limitation to make an internal review had expired, they somehow leaped over hurdles to get this case to the internal review section where it is currently at at the moment.

But although this is a good step in the right direction, it could take many months more for them to make a decision, which will still probably require him to take further tests. Because he needs his license urgently, and has needed it for the past 3 years, I decided to contact Today Tonight, who are very interested in taking on the story.

I’m hoping that after Today Tonight contacts them, and airs the story, Vic Roads will humbly admit that it was all an administrative error and will consequently lift the suspension on his license.

I feel really satisfied being able to help this person as he himself has problems with literacy and therefore unable to write a letter, let alone investigate laws and regulations and so forth. I was happy to assist him with my legal training and devote hours of my time to achieve rightful justice that he so deserves. The help that I have provided may not create any major legal change, but it will create public awareness of the statutory authorities weaknesses and most importantly, It will dramatically change the life of a person who has felt the government has conspired against him from the beginning, it will hopefully enable him to drive once again and therefore claim back his livelihood, and it will show not only himself but others that by standing up to the ‘big guys’, we can succeed. And economically, it has saved him expensive legal fees to obtain legal advice which he wouldn’t have been able to afford, and could obtain from Legal Aid as he is not eligible.

I will let you all know of the outcome. But the already proven outcome is that this person has something to look forward to, is inspired himself to help others where he can, and can now breathe easy knowing that someone has taken up his fight as previously he was all on his own and didn’t know what to do or where to go.

Finally, after helping this person, he has smiled more times in the past few weeks than he has in the past few years, he has started to enquire into various educational options as he now feels his life will have meaning with the re-issuance of his license, and best of all, he has given up certain addictions which he took up after loosing his license. How can someone not be satisfied with this result?