A friend who started at the same time as me has expired on the 18 months to finish the course and having passed 6 exams is about to lose them as he is coming up to the exams lapsing limit.
You say you did your first lot of exams in 01/07, despite starting the D/L in May '06.
If your mate started at the same time as you, did he do his first lot of exams 6 months earlier than you? Which in turn might bring him close to the CAA limit, hence the problems he is now facing.