Despatch ,
What some of the above have said is very true but some of it is not quite true.
First things first you want to go to FTC about as much as you want a slow lingering death, break dancing in you own s**t due to chemical poisoning.
As for doing your training. I did my JAR-ATPL theory with Bristol GS who were outstanding in all respects. having then passed my exams I then went to South AFrica and took their 8 CPL exams
Yes, it's more exams but it only took 2-3 weeks (study and exams) because I had just finished the JAR ATPL exams.
I was then in a position to undertake a South African PPL, hours build and then the CPL. Admittedly I already had a JAR-PPL and 150hrs so I only had to test but it would have been just another 4 weeks otherwise. I left South Africa with a CPL / Multi IR.
The beauty of this is when you come home to UK you are not subject to the rest of the modular structure as you are now a professional pilot from an ICAO contracting state. So you do not need to pay for a CPL module you just get a 170a and test and to get a JAR-IR(A) you need to do a 15hr conversion course which costs considerably less than a 55 hr course.
So all in all as flying is about half the price in SA if you find any decent SA academy/school (Central Flying Academy/Lanseria Flight School/Pretoria School/43 Air but to name a few) you follow the South African CPL/IR syllabus and then take 8 exams (£20 each) over 1 or 2 weeks which is almost (not exactly law & ops are different) then build the required 200 hours you can do this in fairly decent aircraft like an Arrow for £60ph b4 doing a multi SIM and then a PA34/PA31/BE76 instrument rating course.
Another bonus is that in SA you can do a CPL skills test, multi engine class rating and initial instrument rating all in one test and the test cost the grand total of £80 which they think is expensive!!!
Beware the schools telling youy that the weather is always great. CBs there are not the same as here and flying quite simply and quite rightly stops as they get squall lines over a hundred miles across on many summer afternoons. Very pretty to see decent electrical storms from the ground
One caveat if you find that you are not a natural aviator you will find flying in the UK a very steep learning curve due to the low density of traffic over there. So though you may not need leaggly to do a CPL modul doing 10/15 hours of CPL/IR work over here with an instructor will make sure that you are on the right path at the right level b4 making a fool of yourself on a skills test.
Good luck PM me if you want more info on SA I even have piccies
