When I was looking into this I was advised that it was best to get the Class 1 out of the way if looking at a PPL as an avenue to going commercial, as you don't want to drop thousands on training and only then find that you are barred anyway.
The cost of the medical is much less than any PPL training and in my opinion money well spent. You will, of course, need to travel to Gatwick for your initial medical, but thankfully you do not need to go back afterwards.
The report of my Class 1 trip is here and gives quite a lot of detail on the process and costs: http://www.pprune.org/medical-health...ip-report.html.
Last edited by JDA2012; 18th Mar 2013 at 13:44.