I've had dealings recently with a number of people from the CAA regarding Lee on Solent. They all went out of their way to be helpful and we got what we needed with no fuss.
On the other hand I went to a CAA safety evening several years ago where one of the speakers was a CAA surveyor. He was talking about the issues that had come to light as a result of surveys, aircraft found with unapproved mods, unapproved repairs, damage etc. that should not have been flying.
I stuck my hand up and asked "OK so you find an aircraft that has these problems, yet it has a C of A and a C of R issued by an engineer licensed by you. What action do you take to find out why they were issued and where the process failed?"
His answer was "Airworthiness is the Operator's responsibility."
That may be good answer if the operator is a major airline with his own maintenance organisation but not if the operator is an owner who is putting his trust in the system. It's a bit like saying that you must have an MOT certificate for your car but if the testing station passed it when it shouldn't have then it's your fault.
Maybe it's an Airworthiness Surveyor thing.