After doing some more reading and searching I decide to give the lm_paypal module a go after disabling all the Ubercart modules.

Looks like it works very well. Certainly interacts with the PayPal subscription feature without a hitch.

The only thing is that the user has to create an account for themselves first before they can subscribe (which then gives them the extra role).

But until Ubercart has the required functionality, I guess this will have to do.

Is it possible that the lm_paypal module (or at least some of the code behind it) could be integrated into Ubercart somehow? that may be a shortcut to adding some new features.

Tim