Gertrude, the entire scenario painted in your post is absolute nonsense!
As I said in one of my previous posts, the exams do not need to be supervised by the Ground Examiner. Standards Document 11 simply requires the Ground Examiner to select a suitable invigilator. This could be any FI. There is of course then the need for a small amount of planning ahead to brief the invigilator and give him/her the exam paper.
It is only the marking of the finished paper that must be done by the Ground Examiner. This could of course cause delays in marking papers when he/she goes on leave, but once again a very minor amount of planning ahead will avoid any problems. This should of course include briefing potential exam candidates that there will be a period from xxx to YYY during which the Ground Examiner will be unavailable. So exams can be taken during this period, but they must be booked in advance and the papers will be marked immediately after his/her return.
If Asheikh's comments in this thread are accurate the school concerned has no effective student record keeping system at all. Without proper written records of flight training exercises completed, how on earth do they cope when two or more different FI's are involved? What happens if an FI leaves the company or dies? The options appear to be to simply ask the students how far they have got, or else to start again from scratch.
I'm all in favour of avoiding pointless paperwork, but not all paperwork is pointless.
As for your final paragraph, does the following version sound any more acceptable?
"Yes I know I told you that we have a proper record of all of your training, but the fact is I lied. Yes you will need copies of the written records in order to apply for your PPL but we simply don’t have any. Yes I know that this is going to cost you a lot more money, but like I said, sorry mate."
Last edited by keith williams; 15th Sep 2014 at 16:39.