Does anyone actually know of anyone who had their ticket pulled?
Only for medical reasons.
I suspect the CAA is wary of pulling a license for "behaviour" without first winning a prosecution, because - on the occassions where the pilot employed a half decent lawyer - they have lost quite a few prosecutions.
Prosecuting pilots for e.g. fuel mismanagement is tricky because it opens a huge can of worms concerning practices widely taught in the PPL training establishment. Get yourself a decent lawyer and you will have the judge saying he wishes he could shut down some flying school...