DFC
wise man!! i will often cut the corner and send you to holly missing GWC; if the previous sector has deigned to throw several of you at me in a bunch!!
with regards to not knowing if the hold is active; i have had a pilot; from a reputable airline; running into biggin ask, on a busy frequency, what do i do after biggin?
My reply was hold and he moaned.... the clearance limit is the hold fix and unless otherwise instructed, you must expect to hold.
If we are busy with outbounds etc, we do not have time to liaise with the director and get a heading off. if we can, we will get rid of you early enough so that he issue instructions before you hit the hold, but more often than not, we are trading levels between outbounds and inbounds... if we do not give outbounds a bit of a climb, it can get even messier 15 miles down the line!