I also have to praise the LAA. I posted my aircraft permit renewal at 2pm on a Monday and the permit arrived in the post at 10am Wednesday at a cost of £180.
I also did my biannual flight review with an LAA examiner in his lovely Auster. I put the fuel in his aircraft, made him a cup of tea and paid my £10 (I think) fee to the LAA and my licence was valid for 2 yrs.
The NPPL is brilliant if you only want to fly in the UK (but may be accepted elswhere soon) and as I alredy had a UK PPL all I had to do was get a £10 medical record review from my doctor which is valid for 5 yrs.
Overflight of built up areas is no longer an issue.
Overal the service is quick, reasonably priced and leaves the owner and his LAA inspector in charge. It is the savior of private avaiation as I would have just stopped flying if I had to rent a certified club aircraft in order to fly.
Perhaps the only area they could improve is the speed of approval of modifications and other more complex non standard issues. These can take a while as they are very thorough in their review and always seem to be very busy.
I would encourage people to join and there is a good free magazine which rivals the other publications if you are a member.
DJ