We have all had the experience.
It reminded me very much of transferring my car onto Spanish plates as I used to go from office to office with a pile of paperwork and copies of everything and at the last step trafico asked for my escritura to confirm my address and he was most surprised when like pulling a rabbit from a hat I pulled it out of my bag.
One of the things I really complain about is all the photocopying I have to do for police stations and tax offices which proves to me the government has no interest in being green. But no one has ever been able to tell me where all this stuff gets filed/stored.
In Spain everything must be done in person whereas in UK it's almost the complete opposite. With the economy the way it is Spain will have to tackle this problem and improve efficiency to save on cost. But how do you get rid of those people who have a job for life.
In Spain there is very little can be done by post or telephone or online.