Nimbus - I appreciate that, to anyone brought up under the FAA system, the freedom of flight without a Flight Plan may seem utterly alien, but that's the way it is in the UK. No-one would be stupid enough to fly in IMC without some sort of radar service, I hope, Flight Information Service is NOT a suitable alternative in IMC, in my view, because in the UK you may not be talking to someone who can see you on the screen. The selection of the appropriate type of service is taught to all PPL students (which makes re-training those who learned to fly at a US flight school important) and is the pilot's choice. It is important only to request the type of service which you actually need; there was a change in the rules a few years ago which meant that those used to off-airways VOR crawls in VFR for navigation ("Err, this is Golf Alfa Bravo Charlie Delta, PA28 from Boggsville to Sunnyplace, routing via the ABC to the DEF to the GHI, request Radar Advisory Service") will now only be given a RAS if they're under IFR. This was to stop ATC controller overload when people who should have been flying VFR were expecting an IFR radar separation to be provided for them. Nowadays such folk would be asked "Are you flying IFR?" Since most don't know the difference between IMC and IFR, they will usually reply "Negative" and will then be told that RAS is not available. It really is very simple, but it requires good airmanship.