ANO Article 82 states "The CAA must not grant....a United Kingdom Commercial Pilot's Licence (Aeroplanes) or a United Kingdom Airline Transport Pilot's Licence (Aeroplanes) to any person who was not on 30th June 2002 respectively the holder of such a licence" It is more likely that fred's ATPL was re-issued on 21/2/2009 having been initially issued prior to June 2002.
Unless a UK national licence is converted to the JAA equivalent by 8 April 2012 it will cease to be valid on that date. Since the Cover Regulation states that the issuing Authority shall convert all national licences, what is more likely to happen is that the CAA will simply cancel the UK ATPL and issue a JAA equivalent in its place.
Pity those people who hold a UK ATPL but do not have 500 hrs of multi-pilot time - they will only be able to get a JAA/EASA CPL. It is not clear at present whether, or for how long, they will retain exam credit for the subsequent issue of an EASA ATPL.