Achima, I think you will find that everyone is right here.
Whilst there is a same day premium service for Aircraft Registration, Operations, and Airworthiness, there is NO premium service for Flight Crew Licencing.
Last year I used the walk in service and very good it was too. I arrived about 11.30 and was on my way home before 12.00 The time before I arrived at 07.30 and also left about 12.00. It’s somewhat random, basically if a load of airline pilots are there for type ratings the room is full and they get there early!
I’m talking about the “not-in-person” same-day service. Those get processed by the regular staff but take priority.
achimha wrote:
The problem of the UK CAA is that they offer this “same day” service for a hefty fee. It’s available for almost every process.
They don’t. Unless that has changed in the last year, the fee for the counter service is the same fee as if you do it per post.
achimha wrote:
Whenever a same-day application is there, it gets priority over the others. So in order to shorten waiting times, more and more people use the same day service which means that non same-day applications get pushed out further and thereby it’s a self-accelerating scheme.
Also not last time I used it – there is a fixed number of slots for the same day service with resource allocated to it. If you turn up too late, you have just turned yourself into a courier delivering your paperwork for the normal service.
Maybe the CAA is paranoid about instructors with lapsed qualifications, and they want to check the instructor’s/examiner’s bonafides on their file before issuing the certificate?
It does happen.
I have heard of quite a number in the FAA system. I personally know one guy who did a checkride for something, got slightly concerned when it didn’t appear on his FAA record for months, then went elsewhere to do another checkride for something else, and was told the previous checkride pass (for which he had only the certificate signed by the DPE) was not accepted by the FAA. The FAA would not divulge why but it was prob99 due to the DPE having been temporarily banned. Another one had to re-do a bizjet checkride in a similar situation, which would have cost him a bit of money! His instructor told me that he took legal action against the FAA and got the rating issued (which is IMHO correct). A UK pilot who I used to know personally did an IR checkride in the USA but the FAA refused to issue the rating, for reasons which appeared to be related to the FAA not liking something which was (or more likely wasn’t) in his logbook (but, one assumes, which the DPE didn’t notice). All the foregoing was quite some years ago but clearly it can happen.
There have been cases in the UK CAA system too. I recall reading about some c. a year ago. Instructors with expired ratings, and collusion. The CAA did, IIRC, issue the ratings to the test candidates in most but not all cases. Where they required a re-test was where there was suspected collusion (bribery, presumably) between the candidate and the instructor.
Plus we have the general distrust of “freelance anything” in Europe 
The problem of the UK CAA is that they offer this “same day” service for a hefty fee. It’s available for almost every process. Whenever a same-day application is there, it gets priority over the others. So in order to shorten waiting times, more and more people use the same day service which means that non same-day applications get pushed out further and thereby it’s a self-accelerating scheme.
Same-day just means you get an initial answer the same day, usually why your request cannot be completed and what is missing. The follow-on answers are far from being same-day!
I know this “acceleration fee” from other countries where I do business, it has a different name there but the idea is the same 
Not a big fan of the same-day service!
What I don’t understand is why the CAA system doesn’t give you a temporary license the moment you pass your checkride which is part of the paperwork the examiner does, so you’re good to go straight away, rather than waiting 4-6 weeks to be able to fly again. It’s what the FAA does. It’s even what happens with a UK driving license.
I waited 4 weeks last July/August. I chose to take the paperwork in person to the CAA in Gatwick rather than send it – which turned out to be a good move because there was an omission on one of the forms which I was able to put right on the spot! The CAA took the payment about four days before I received the license – that’s the point at which you’ll know you will soon be flying on your own ticket!
Good luck,
Phil
I sent a conversion application to EASA licence on September 26th. I have not heard anything and my card has not been debited yet. I have not actually found anybody yet who has received their licence through the post in the last few weeks.
That is processed in a totally different way to licences. There is almost an assembly line to process licences and ratings. Permissions will be dealt with on an individual basis by just one or maybe two individuals who have other tasks.
I recently applied for a "permission for aerial work" with a UAV and it took over 2 months. And my paperwork was perfect!
