Laundryman - think we fly from the same place - and I've had a number 7 as well AFTER being held in the local for rejoin!
I actually listened to the RT of someone ending up being reported for landing at 7:01pm - 1 minute after the airfield closes - due to having to fly a large circuit following a DA. Now, if you're going to push boundaries, then sometimes things will go wrong and you have to live with the consequences, but it's an example of how a large circuit could have cost someone dearly - ATC were asking him if he was going to divert to Luton!