Thanks very much for your reply and useful info.

I will be visiting Thailand later in 2007 and will try to speak to people who have sucessfully gone through the visa process. I notice on the UK Thai Embassy web site that it's possible to obtain an "O A" one year retirement visa from their London Embassy. Think I'll try this when the time comes.

I also noticed on the Hull, UK Thai Consulate web site that it's NOT now necessary to hold the qualifying amount of money in a Thai bank. Hope this is true !!