Here's my contribution for what it's worth.
I am valid on both sectors that operate over the North Sea in ScATCC's airspace.
1.It's the Montrose controller who is responsible for answering the phones to AD units, so if you require co-ordination at FL260 or above you've got the right person, if it's FL250 or below please ask for Tay (vertical split is at FL255 !) and as they sit within 6 feet we will get them to pick up the shared line.
2.I don't know if you've got all the Upper Air Routes and Conditional Routes on your video maps, but if we are obviously staying "on-route", it we be much more helpful if you would just avoid us by the requisite 5 miles or 2000 feet rather than wasting a phonecall to tell us that is exactly what you plan to do anyway. We get a lot of this type of call........
3. Below FL245, assume that the civil traffic is receiving Radar Information Service, and only attempt co-ordination if it's absolutely necessary, the Tay controller is busy enough !!
I hope we can keep the dialogue going, we can all learn from this,
Regards,
[ 22 July 2001: Message edited by: The Fat Controller ]