A woman from Erith is still waiting for the DVLA to change her surname on her driving licence – ‘seven months’ after she first sent her forms off.

Gillian Ravetta said she sent her driving licence to the DVLA on December 18 last year to change it from her married name, Homewood, back to Ravetta.

She told the News Shopper that she received proof of receipt after around a month, but then the DVLA went silent.

She said she called the driving agency in February when she was told to “call back in a couple of weeks” as her application hadn’t been processed – but that she was refused any information about how long this might take.

Gillian said: “Trying to call the DVLA is like a lottery as sometimes it says ‘sorry your call can’t be taken’ and other times you press the keys to get to the right department and then it is engaged.

“After being told several times to call back in two weeks, I got no further and then gave up.”

On April 23, Gillian said she received some forms from the DVLA to complete and return regarding her sleep apnoea and depression.

She added: “The forms were as if I was notifying the DVLA of my conditions for the first time but I completed and returned them on the same day anyway.

“I called to ask why they were sent and I was told it was ‘probably for a review’.

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“All I wanted was to change my surname on my licence and I am still yet to hear from DVLA with my licence with the correct name on.

“I also said that I use my licence for ID should I need to and DVLA said that's not what it's for and that it’s only a permit to drive.”

A spokesperson for the DVLA said: “We will not comment on this specific case but I can confirm we are contacting your reader direct on it.”

Gillian added: “The DVLA are very unhelpful and making more work for themselves by encouraging people to pointlessly call back when they aren’t giving any information out.

“Even a rough timescale was not given as I feared that if it got lost in the post I'd never know when to chase it.

“I understand covid has delayed things but does it really take seven months to change a surname?”

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