A nearby airfield has a small fleet of essentially identical model/make airplane. Some managed to get on a permit, the others are on a CofA and there is nothing they can do to get the almost identical airplane on a permit. These people are just simple folk who like to go up and fly around and have fun, as the vast majority of private pilots in the UK do. Ask them what the difference is and they will point to their wallet and the number of grey hairs on their heads due not not having to deal with the 'regulator', whoever that might be. The permit people look younger and have more cash to spend on other things. In the real world of UK private flying, that's the difference.