D4Drivers is offering D4 medicals for HGV drivers from this week at 30 centres across the UK. The company’s sister organisation Summerfield Healthcare is also offering antibody blood tests to transport operators, with results supplied within three days.
The company said the antibody tests are already being used by a major supermarket and logistics firms to establish the presence or absence of Covid-19 antibodies in their drivers.
D4Drivers, which plans to open another 45 centres through the summer, said PPE and other safety measures will be installed at all its clinics with drivers remaining in their cars on arrival until called in by the doctor. Appointments can be booked online.
D4Drivers medical director Dr Grant Charlesworth-Jones said: “Whilst the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown measures meant that many of our clinics had to close, we have been working hard behind the scenes to re-locate and re-start as many clinics as possible to meet growing demand from drivers.
“To date we have approximately 30 clinics now offering appointments and we will continue our efforts until we have all of our original 75 clinics up and running again.”
Clinics offering D4 medicals were forced to shut their doors at the start of the pandemic lockdown which left many HGV drivers struggling to renew their D4 medicals.
After growing protests from drivers and logistics operators, in April the DVLA allowed drivers with licences expiring in 2020 to extend their licenses for an additional 12months without submitting a medical.
However Charlesworth-Jones warned: “Many drivers still need to submit a medical if they have a pre-existing condition, and for many others it is going to be advantageous to submit a medical where possible because if they do, DVLA will grant them a full license extension rather than a temporary one.
“At the same time, we must also recognise the serious risk which arises from temporary licence extensions, and acknowledge that there will now be many drivers on the road as a result who would have otherwise failed a medical, and who are not safe to drive. Simply because you can skip the medical this year does not mean you should.”
Referring to Summerfield Healthcare’s antibody tests Charlesworth-Jones added: “If workers are self-isolating because of symptoms then the PCR mouth and nose swab will tell them if they have Covid-19 and if they are negative they can return to work and do not need to self-isolate for 14 days.
“Whilst antibodies don't guarantee total immunity, if you have two employees doing the same job you will bring the employee with antibodies back before the one with no antibodies.”
D4Driver clinics opened so far include:
Bridgend
Brighton
Bristol
Burnley
Canterbury
Cardiff
Central London
Colchester
Coventry
Purfleet
Doncaster
Durham
Eastleigh
Exeter
Glasgow
