mr 777, you must be joking surely. how can gatwick be working their ass off at 3 in the morning if the tma is asleep? do all tha planes magically appear from the continent straight into your airspace?
mmmmm, no, they work the tma first. same goes with essex, surely the aircraft they work all come from east or north or capital.
Unless of course, you were complimenting tma controllers who can do such a spanking good job whilst asleep compared to essex and kk who are clinging on bandboxed (heaven forbid) with less traffic once you minus the outbound flights that you dont work ,which the snoozy tma boys and gals do.
I do not begrudge you band 5, just saying that you get a better deal for it at the present time.