Hi,
I know this might not be quite what your looking for, but it looks like you can cross over to BSAC as a sports diver.
You would probably need to sort out a bit of familiarity with conventional scuba gear for your mate, but worth a look. I'm not sure if you could do that via BSAC direct via the SALT system and then find a pool and then a quarry and just familiarise yourself with the kit.
Means your mate will be able to do 35 meters and deco, which i suspect he is already doing if he's doing 50 meters on air (or very short run times!).
This means you should be able to get the ticket for abroad. Sports is also a CMAS 2 * if your worried about BSAC quals abroad, but I've never had any issues, they just want your dosh!
http://www.bsac.org/techserv/salt.pdf
Have a look at the link, the pdf sumarises the requirements, I thinks thats you.
Not sure if any BSAC expert can help and confirm that?
Gareth