I am hoping that there may be some GZers who can offer advice on legalities and practicalities for a dilemma faced by my 79-year-old friend.

He recently suffered what was eventually diagnosed as a Neural Seizure while in a local coffee shop.  The symptoms were confusion and indecisiveness - although I am relying on his later recollection rather than eye-witness reports.  He has been told he must not drive because of the risk of another seizure while driving, however his driving licence has not been cancelled or endorsed in any way.  I would expect that the NZTA would have provision to do this if medical professionals deem it necessary.  Two MRI scans have been done with no abnormalities detected.

My friend lives alone in a rented rural home.  He did have a flatmate but this is no longer the case.  There is no public transport.  There are local taxi services but they are focussed entirely on airport bookings rather than conventional point-to-point transport. There is no ride-share (ie Uber) available.  He lives beyond the boundaries that local supermarkets deliver to so that is not an option and the same applies to prescription deliveries.  He has a working neighbour within 200 metres, but there are limits on depending on them to get to a supermarket or anything else in the nearby town (11kms away).  He is therefore housebound.  He has children in the region but they both work full-time and have offered no assistance at all.  We usually meet at a local pub twice a week and depending on me and other mates to get around is not good.  He is skipping pub visits partly because of this and partly to conserve spending.

Since he had the seizure he has totally changed his lifestyle.  He was working part-time as doing house inspections.  At the time of the seizure he had done 4 inspections in the previous 5 days, in locations as far as 2 hours drive from where he lives.  This business is now closed.  He is looking to move into town but is very constrained by rental availability and affordability.  When the move is completed he plans to buy a mobility scooter and will then be completely independent again.  The problem is the interim period, which will probably be many months.  

He feels better than ever and is totally frustrated that a seizure like this can have such a catastrophic effect.  He acknowledges the risk of having a seizure while driving but feels that the risk of a repeat is very low and that all he wants to do is to be able to drive no further than 20km at a time.

Everything points to the fact that when the Neural Surgeon said he could not drive, that this is an advisory rather than compulsory action - that there is no legal obligation.  Until he is able to move, he can drive to town and back perhaps 3 times a week.

If anyone has any knowledge on his legal driving status I would appreciate feedback.  The driving risks are well know and acknowledged so no feedback on that is being sought (my friend has been roundly abused by his family and some other friends for driving into town once).