Thanks for your constructive replies! Some great advice. I will definitely contact a local flying school but might even consider a block course abroad if anyone has any recommendations?
Without a doubt, I wouldn't be thinking of purchasing any aircraft until I had built up experience but didn't want to spend the money on PPL/IMC Etc. only to realise that owning an aircraft in the UK is just out of bounds.
Flying around the circuit in a clapped out Piper Warrior just doesn't really appeal to me and I know so may people who have been put off learning to fly after trial flights due to the age of the aircraft! Whilst I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of private flying, the point for me is to get from A to B as I would plan to fly up to 1000 miles at a time.
I guess my fixation with modern aircraft is reliability, fuel economy and safety. Every I time I pick up an aviation magazine whether UK or US, there is always a monthly section detailing incidents and it kind of puts me off! Yes they are great articles for learning from others mistakes but you wouldn't pick up Auto Express and read half a dozen pages of accident reports each month. I often wonder how safe private flying really is compared to car travel and to be honest, these incident reports kind of put me off!
Thanks again for keeping this thread constructive so far.