Why should we care what others think about pilot salaries? I don't care how much you get paid and even if I did, I know that my opinion is worthless, so I keep schtum.
The vast majority of the world population would be stunned if they earnt even as much as minimum wage in the UK, let alone £45K. However, I'm not sure how that's relevant to this discussion in the same way that you pointing out that other people in the UK think pilots get paid vast sums, when in reality £45K is not much for an experienced professional in any field. IT, Law and even some engineering professions (though engineers are generally almost criminally underpaid in the UK) get salaries often well above £45K.
It's impossible to draw meaningful comparisons between different professions when it comes to salaries really. Especially if you don't know anything about that particular field anyway.