I just got used to it [not driving]. The only one time it had any concern was when I had a job and again it was just common sense, this is the only thing that has restricted, this is why we live where we are because of not being able to drive. Now not being able to drive has worried I am sure a lot of people because also its a lot more well known that women drive and so on. Having not driven I don’t miss it, if people have driven and then they lose their, it must be awful for them, I feel very sorry for them.

But no, when we went to look for somewhere to live we got, that was the main thing, we had a circle round a station, well you know yourself, and being a mover still, it wasn’t going to stop me moving you know because I’ve got epilepsy.

Well I, because you know when my husband was at work I had no choice but to use general public transport, but I don’t keep hold of the fear that I might have one [seizure] on the bus. And I have come home before now and I’ve got the bus, and got on the bus and I’m actually talking to the person I’m with on the bus, and then I come over feeling really, really peculiar. And I know that I’m going to have a fit and I obviously don’t fall down and the person I’m with don’t know me that well, we know each other because we travel on the same bus and I’ve gone way past my bus stop. And the next thing I know I’m up in the middle of ? Square which is far from here and I’m thinking oh my goodness what am I doing here? And then I’m trying to think how do I get from here to where I live and it’s that can be worrying. But you mustn’t let it get on top of you because if we all let it take over, we wouldn’t go out in the end would we?

I take the train – and its fine. And you can work on the train; Its quite good because I know I can’t drive, and everyone else in my team knows I can’t drive them either, so I just get on with it really. But that said because I live in Birmingham and theres a good infrastructure with good buses and good trains, it was a bit different before we moved here when I was living in Somerset and the buses stopped at 5 in the evening, and that was that really. So’that’s part of the reason why we chose somewhere like Birmingham. Because although I have had my driving license back on and off, weve got one car, were not going to buy an extra car for me, I’m quite happy to use public transport;

Because you just get used to it;

You do get used to it. I mean when you go to parties you can be the one who gets to have a glass of wine – always! (laughs); Because you can’t drive (laughs);

And then about, I was driving, and about two and half years into working, so by then I’d been almost four years without a fit, I had another fit, on holiday in the sun. And it sort of, my world fell apart again. That was the end of the driving. I had to move location for work, to move to London, so that I didn’t have to drive. And I then went on a progression of seizures, on and off, at all different times at the evening, a lot in the morning, and it really started to damage my career and also my self-confidence;

I am very lucky I live in a city with great public transport and where bikes are the norm. But there are times when I wish I could go to Sainsburys on my own or, the driving is hard, it [not being able to drive] reduces your independence. My friends laugh about me that I’m the biggest walking bus timetable person in the country but, and that’s funny, but it involves taking three buses to get to somewhere that you could get to in ten minutes. And yes occasionally you can jump in a cab but you can’t live your life like that. And that really frustrates me;

And you know what’s it like being married to somebody who doesn’t drink, but she can’t drive you anywhere. You know, there are no benefits in that;;

The problem, again I’m being a bit negative, but the problem of lack of driving does impact on the family because theres only one driver, in our case and my wife does have a bad back problem as well so that she does, she can only drive for about one and a half hours at a time and then has to have a rest. Of course if I was able to drive then travelling to Scotland where we like to have a holiday would be much faster, but it isn’t It does mean that, weve got active boys, especially the younger one who plays a lot of football, I can’t really take him round the countryside. But my wife, who isn’t so fond of football, finds herself going around with him. So that is, is a factor.

As far as the sufferer is concerned they have to rely on public transport which is very up and down. And its very frustrating sometimes to wait an hour for a bus knowing that you could probably have walked it and if you had a car and driven it you’d have been there in five minutes. What I would, being positive, do make sure you get your best benefits from transport because you can get a disabled pass for the railways. The Epilepsy Association has fought long and hard with the railway companies to make sure that we could have disabled rates because we were medically unfit to drive. So it was quite right that we should have rail cards, cheaper rail cards. So do fight that one. Your Local Authority may be able to help with cheaper bus fairs. Certainly where I come from, I have a bus pass that allows me any journey is 20p. This is because I’m medically unfit to drive. Do look into what you may be allowed to do.

I started for example that I’d lost my driving license for 21/2 years because at that stage you lost your license for 2 years, so I was uncontrolled for like 6 months, then the 2 years on top of that, but then of course because of the relapse I ended up with the epilepsy coming back again. So although I’d got my license back, I only had it for 6 months and in total for a period of 7 years I only had my driving license for 6 months, which I think my wife found harder than I did because I’m not the best back seat passenger. So I coped with that. Again it was just one of those things you know that I always took the view that que sera, sera whatever will be will be, just get on with it. And so we looked towards you know the day when eventually I would get my license back.

Well I’ve just, future plans is quite topical because I’ve just been on the phone to the DVLC, I’m just waiting for my licence to come back. As soon as that lands on the mat I’m going to do a week’s intensive driving course and to me, that will open so many doors for me. I mean my career had to be put on hold, you know in the building industry because I couldn’t jump in a car and go and visit customers and clients and things. So that to me is going to be the biggest change in my life, being able to drive. Being a keen photographer as well I can chuck my cameras in the car and go and take pictures. To not be able to drive is just suffocating. That will be the biggest, the biggest thing for me.