Thanks for the prompt replies.
But at 58 years old I'll not be sitting the exams again.
It was just something I'd always wanted, but circumstances and an ill parent prevented me from completing the course quick enough. It was really going to be the springboard to the flight instructor course which I still have another 80 hours as a PPL to do to be able to apply for. But I'm not sure if there is a period of validity for the FI course either?
I'm not altogether sure why the CAA can't retrospectively give an extension to the exams? Their response to my application was that they can't legally issue an extension as it has to applied for before the exam validity expired. Not sure what relevance a date either side of the expiry has, but there it is?