CAA have been horrible to deal with.
Well I now have my new licence, but I have 4 complaints about the CAA.
1. My experience suggests that it is impossible to contact a real person and enquiries are fobbed off.
2. I read their website carefully and sent a cheque for £106.00 with my application on 23 April. After 17 working days - not the 10 which they claim- I received an ungrammatical email on 16 May telling me that the fee would be £160- in other words they wanted another £54. I telephoned the number provided and the person at the other end demanded £89. I decided to pay this because the email made it clear that if my application was not completed within 30 days it would be cancelled and I would be charged £108 as a cancellation fee plus a fee of £25 for refunding my original payment. I have therefore paid a total of £195 which means I have been overcharged either £89 if my original calculation of the fee was correct or I have been overcharged £35 if their calculation is correct. I wrote to the individual who sent me the email on 16 May but I have never received a reply.
3. My original licence included an SLMG rating - this has been omitted from my new licence.
4. I also had a microlight rating and this has also been omitted.
Throughout this very unpleasant experience the tone of all the CAA's communications has been condescending and borderline agressive.
I saw an article in one of the flying magazines a few months ago which said that following the red tape challenge the CAA was going to change its ways and become more user friendly. Does anyone have a copy of that article because it included the name of the relevant Government Minister and I want to write to him.