Okay, that makes sense. So the difference is that at Calais it isn't a hold, it's part of the procedure.
But what about the Teeside plate? The alternate procedure is clear enough (which basically amounts to (ii) in my original example). But the main procedure? Is that racetrack a hold or part of the procedure? It is a bold line.
The guy in France did say that it was uncommon enough to do so (no further qualification of how often that is) that he didn't automatically assume people would always actually do the "once round the race track".
By the way CM, don't apologize: I'm glad he was correct! I'd convinced myself he was at the time, because of the need to lose additional altitude. But looking at the Teeside plate brought it back to mind.
Edited to add having read bookworm's post:
I see. Hence the French controller's comment that that is what some people do. Thus enough confusion seems to exist that the controller wouldn't know what you were going to do, so what would you say on the RT? Clearly it isn't hard to come up with something suitable "we'll be going around the racetrack" or "we won't be" but what with the language difficulties and all...