Just a word of advice – eyesight seems to be one of the biggest stumbling blocks.
It’s worth getting an optician to check your eyes before you go to Gatwick – you can print off the class 1 eyesight requirements from the CAA’s website to show them.
For around £15 they should be able to tell you whether your vision is good enough, which is a lot cheaper than paying the CAA £400 just to find out you can only get a class 2.