Unfortunately, it appears that the JAA standards still have the refraction limits, although at +/-5 dioptres they are somewhat more lenient than Canada's (old) standard (+/- 3.5 dioptres). On the other hand, if you exceed the tolerances you can't get a medical certificate even if you undergo laser surgery and wind up with perfect vision, which I don't believe was the case here.
See generally
http://www.caa.co.uk/srg/med/default.asp?page=537