Dropped in the claggy by BA and the CAA

In my last post I mentioned that my wife was due to fly from Heathrow to Manchester in the morning. Well at 9:30pm that evening BA cancelled the flight due to the security problems caused by the terrorist threat. Plan B was for us to get up at 4am and for me to drive her to Manchester Airport so that she could catch her onward flight. At 04:30 we set off and I dropped her off at Terminal 2 departures at 7:45. As I had also got my dog in the car I made a couple of stops at service stations on the way back. We got home at 12:15 having done the 420 mile round trip in seven and three quarters hours.

I had been expecting my PPL licence to be delivered that day, but when I got home it was clear that no delivery had been attempted.
If you recall, I personally took all my documents to the CAA office on the 24th July. However the person who copied my passport did not certify it (mistake 1). When I found out two weeks later, I rang the CAA and explained the problem and a lady said she would sort it out and that it would be sent out within a couple of days. So when I rang them this time it was to query what had happened. It seems that nothing had been done (mistake 2). I asked the person on the phone when it would be sorted out. He said they would have to find out who was on the rota at the time when I made my visit, but he seemed not to care very much and would not give any timescales for resolving the problem other than a vague as soon as possible. If I had to describe the service desk staff at this office, the only word that comes to mind is ‘incompetent’.
To try to get back control of this situation, I sent them the original of my birth certificate. I do hope they can expedite matters now.

Yes, Friday 11th August was a long day for me.


Peewit