The CAA has numerous different IT systems that do not talk to one another. It is quite easy for a left hand, right hand disconnect to occur as organisations continue to have more and more dysfunctional IT. In the days of the Cardex and Quill Pen, this would never have occurred. It is the price or illusion of progress!
What amazes me is that for their massive budget they have not spent a relative few bob sorting this out.
It is not as if they are presiding over 20 million car drivers. There are only about 20k active private pilots in the UK (evidenced by valid medicals) and probably at most a few k commercial pilots.
A database of that size could be stored on my Nokia E51 phone
I suspect a bigger reason for this is that a lot of competent people have left in recent years. The smart ones have got jobs elsewhere, and the cynical gravy train riders have got jobs at EASA