Hey all,
UK licence lapsed about 2 years ago, and finally got around to doing something about it a year later, so it had expired for a year.
Was told I needed a current type on licence to renew, difficult as in Dubai for quite a while, but able to put B777 on UK/JAA licence with 500 hrs P1 (log book verified by EK), and a LPC with a JAA licenced TRE. There is one at EK, although not UK licenced, which didn't matter. The other proviso was a current Class 1 medical. If that had expired for more than 5 years, an initial was needed back in Gatwick.
That was it, pay the licence fee, and a brand new JAA licence delivered to DXB about a month later.
Good luck co-ordinating sim time and TRE, we just booked it on our own - about USD500 per hour each at EK.