This situation of mutual trust, however, is little different from accepting a lift in a person’s car or other private vehicle and is not a basis for a safety recommendation.
Thanks for the link.
Who can argue with that assessment by the AAIB. As things stand that is exactly the position.
However it is not often that a passenger just accepts a ride in a plane. Generally these thing are prearranged and some sort of online facility to check the PPL holder's current status would at least give people a chance to backout or reconsider if they wanted to.
Perhaps the CAA could move further in pulling together a coherent online view of a plane's certified airworthiness and status of maintenance (whether it is club or privately owned) as well as some sort of public statement of the pilot's license and current C of E.
Are you suggesting an on-line log-book being made available to members of the public as well as our state of medical?
Short answer to this is no. This is private information but it would inform the C of E statement that I suggest would be useful on a public site.