Money wasting rubbish
My understanding of all of this is that I still have to take the 14 exams, but I don't have to do the courses to learn the subjects. From what I gather, though, the questions in all subjects are so obscure that a 'normal' airline pilot would not know the answers to most of them. So I will probably go to the states to take the writtens or try to do some kind of distance learning thing.
As for the flying : While it is true that I my skill test could in theory be done as a normal recurrent checkride at my 'new' carrier, it would have to be done on the type on which i am qualified. (In my case A300-600)- which leaves me with Monarch as my only option. And they (or anyone else) won't hire me unless I have a JAR licence.
All classic 'chicken and egg'.
I have no PIC on the type that I am rated on, and nobody will give me my 1st command, and all the jobs for rated people are for DEC's, so I'm pretty much screwed at this point.
So my advice to anyone would be to do JAR licences in the states.