tmj - friend of mine did the same thing.
Wears glasses the tickness of coca-cola bottles and was told straight out by UK CAA - "No JAA Class 1 for you!!"
Followed the FAA route, clocked about 300 hours of piston time in C152, PA28 and PA44 - then had it converted to JAA by UK CAA without a problem.
Just shows - all a load of absolute
.