Ey, ey ey, calm down, calm down.
Flower, I think I can expand on your comment. If you are talking about N864, then part of that airway is delegated to Cardiff ATC. Anyone other than CDF has to avoid non-squawkers because they may be on a procedural crossing with Cardiff. In the MoU there will be a comment such as Cardiff will try to inform other users of this situation, which is obviously not practical. This is why you may often get calls from other units asking if you have any procedural crossers. If you say no then they can legitimately deem that non-squawker as being below CAS.
On the subject of phraseology etc, it is an issue. This was brought to a head by a couple of Airprox where the civil controller "claimed" he did not understand what was being said to him! (raises eyebrow) Now you could read this as the controller in question trying to cover his arse. There was another (published) airprox where Boulmer used a phrase "I'll call you in" which confused the situation. I can confidently state that on the whole, military phraseology is much more strict than civil. This is because of the strict standards organisation in most units and the ATCEB visits.
It is however, an issue. Any controller should be in no doubt about what has been agreed. Comments like "cheers mate", "yeah that's fine" "no problem" etc. heard EVERY SINGLE DAY, have no place in a safety critical environment. A clear and unambiguous statement of intent is essential "cleared to cross at", "not above" "not below" are key elements. Some people can get anal and say that statements such as "co-ordination agreed" are not current phrases but, if it is clear then fine "I'll go behind the BRTXXX and the turn north to climb".... a clear statement of intent.
On the subject of not seeing traffic on radar, that is a difficult subject. If you are the receiving controller and the aircraft is in confliction, you cannot just ignore it! Team game everyone, safe and expeditious flow etc.
The bottom line is..there are plonkers in both civil and military ATC. There are also a lot of hard working and highly professional people around. If you talk to one of the plonkers, resolve it, get your units together and talk about the issues. We live on a very small island, with extremely busy airspace, all trying to do our respective tasks, military working civil aircraft and civil working military. It has worked very well for decades and is the envy of most of the rest of the world. The system has it's faults but nothing we cannot sort out!
