Beagle,
I distinctly remember contacting the CAA directly about my revalidation here in France a couple of years ago (ie. not this last revalidation) as I wanted to make sure I would be OK flying with a local instructor/examiner, and was distictly told that the 1 Hour flight must be within the 3 months prior to expiry. So the CAA have been telling people this since January 2002, regardless of what is written in LASORS, and is probably where Keygrip got his info from too. I suspect that as you say it is an ignorance issue of those working at CAA-FCL.
In their defence, I have had nothing but positive help in my dealings with them as a Brit PPL getting things done over here in France - at least wrt licence revalidation and medical renewal so far - only the 5 Year Licence re-issue to go now, if they can make it 3 in a rowwithout a hitch
Regards, SD..