Beamer.. I am sorry to hear of your problems, but the UK CAA FCL many years ago were very user friendly, and not only could you get through on the phone, but you could also get through to a couple of people who knew what they were taking about in relation to AFI and FI ratings, also FIE usually knew the right people to talk to
I am open to be corrected, but you are only legally required to keep a log book record for two years, so in some cases I am not sure how you prove your flying experience, such as losing your logbook. It used to be the case that you could provide a affidavit, now known in English law, as a statement of truth. This can be done before a solicitor, but if you want to do this for free, it is just as easy to drop into the County Court and get a statement of truth witnessed for free before a court clerk. It would be interesting to know if the CAA will accept a statement of truth.
One final point is, you might ask the moderator to transfer this thread to the instructors forum as there are a couple of guys on their who really know their stuff.