The UK is a very expensive country. The repair costs I quote are from eminently trustworthy and well-known specialist repairers/restorers, but they are by no means the most expensive.
And yes Mark, I have cast a gloating eye many times over KEH's stocklists for all sorts of things, but unfortunately there isn't even a close equivalent in the UK, either for range of stock or - for most things, especially 35mm bodies - price.
Just for interest's sake, I had a quick look at KEH and picked the first three BGN grade items to make up a 500CM kit - 80/2.8, 500cm body with WLF, A12.
Together they come to a little over $750 / £500
Now add shipping + insurance -that's about $95 / £65
SubTotal so far: About $850 / £570
When it arrives at the UK border, there will be import duty and VAT payable. Together those will add about 25% - so we're up to roughly $1060 / £710
In the UK a decent (but perhaps needing a little work) 500CM kit can be had for ~£500
It's interesting that the price of the Hasselblad in the basket at KEH is roughly the same as the cost in the UK - I'm guessing Hasselblad was a less common brand in the US and thus the supply isn't as good, and so the supply/demand curves keep prices up a bit.
But even for all those lovely BGN Nikon F2s and whatnot - of which they seem to have bucketloads, shipping from KEH to the UK will never cost less than about $90 and then we have to add another 25% for import charges. Plus of course there's several thousand miles of water in between should anything go wrong ...
The seller, btw, has agreed to pay for a full service on the body, leaving me to cough only for lens and back to be checked over and tidied up if needed.