Apostille vs. Embassy legalisation for Gabon
Gabon has not joined the Hague Apostille Convention, so one British certificate does not close a paper meant for use there. Files heading that way need embassy or consular legalisation instead, adding a desk behind the first. No apostille issued in Glasgow for use in Gabon completes the job on its own, and no faster tier turns one into a finished article.
Gabon's Hague status & what it means for speed
Treaty routes are quick largely because the argument was settled in advance: one fixed certificate, read the same way at both ends. A chain route is slower for a structural reason rather than a bureaucratic one. Every link waits on the link before it, so the total is a sum of queues and nobody can add them up ahead of time.
The Glasgow → Gabon route step by step
Two government offices carry the British end. Glasgow Registration Office at 45 John Street, Glasgow G1 1JE holds Scottish civil entries and prints certified extracts from them, so your own sheet stays at home. The FCDO Legalisation Office at PO Box 6255, Milton Keynes MK10 1XX works by post, with no counter to call at and nothing to collect in person.
Only one of those steps has a published choice of speed, and it is the British mark. The register office prints when it prints. The consular desk acts when it acts. That leaves a single point on the whole route where money buys time, which is worth knowing before anyone promises a date to somebody abroad.
Cost & timing for this route
The British charge is £45 / document by standard post, or £40 / document on the next-day route where the sender is a registered business, counted per document rather than per envelope. An official charge falls due at the consular stage as well. An apostille from United Kingdom to Gabon is only the first payment, and the second one comes with no timetable attached.
Planning a Gabon-bound file honestly
Promise the far end a window, not a day. Say which stage you are in and what happens next, because that survives contact with reality and a firm date does not. The one thing you control completely is when the first envelope leaves, and on a two-stage route that decision outweighs every option bought later.