What I'm missing in this thread is the question: Why do you want to do your PPL?
Although it's probably the golden standard in private flying, it is by no means the only license that allows you to fly. And if all you want is to experience the magic of flight, there are some other options you should consider, including:
- Take up gliding. Generally much, much more inexpensive due to the club atmosphere. And it's tough. In a different way than powered flying, but certainly no less demanding.
- Don't fly a normal Single Engine Piston aircraft, but go for powered parachutes/ultralights/microlights or something else that's small, essentially far less regulated (thus cheaper) and has far less carrying capacity/speed (thus more frugal). This can bring the cost of aircraft hire down to maybe 50 UKP per hour or even less.
- Don't go for a full-blown PPL, but go for an NPPL. Less medical requirements, less training hours requirements, but you are essentially restricted to UK airspace (foreign airspace only after approval from the foreign authority - France now implicitly approves all UK NPPLs) and you cannot add things like Multi-Engine or an Instrument Rating to it.
All these options will help to significantly bring the cost down, which may mean that you can obtain and keep your license within your budget. Sure, you may be more limited in the capabilities of your license/aircraft but if you'd go for a full-blown PPL you might never get there at all.