sapperkenno, think you've got yourself confused with Brum. I've been flying through EGNX airspace for over 20 years and very rarely get told to remain outside their airspace, and if on the odd occasion I do, just listening to the R/T on 134.175 or 120.125 tells the story. A simple clue is that if the R/T is busy then perhaps I don't want to be in that bit of airspace. I have heard pilots giving the controller grief for not wanting to turn left or right 10 or 20 degrees. Good basic airmanship is to always have a plan A and a plan B, one for a direct route and the other if its busy. As that ATCO says, talk to them or go and see them at NX, we did a few years ago and we learn't a lot.