Chilli Monster - I was obviously a little hasty in just quoting NATS. yes of course ther are other authorities. My questions till hold good and so why do not the CAA for example get involved to enforce the terms of the "licence" as they would against any miscreant who was a pilot and broke the rules. Surely the "Controlling Authority" is breaking the rules by not having adequate staff to ensure equal access to the designated airspace they wish to control. Can any one give us a definitive answer please? I should stress that apart from one particular piece of CAS (which I simply avoid be it VFR or IFR) the UK has the best ATCOs anywhere in the world and they do a very good job so please dont let this degenerate into having a go at ATCOs.