Fudging ETA's in procedural airspace.
My company flies Turboprops, primarily in the Scottish Highlands. Recently we have all noticed a certain TP operator also operating in Scotland becoming increasingly guilty of fudging it's ETA's, obviously in order to become number 1 in the procedure, hence avoiding the hold. Usually the truth becomes clear when the aircraft in question mysteriously gets to the overhead two or three minutes later than broadcast. We have a chuckle to ourselves, laugh at the prats who think this is necessary and get on with our day.
Last night however we came across a real prat. We checked in first. Having given our ETA to the overhead he checked in with an ETA 4 minutes before us. We thought this sounded off given his range and the prevailing wind. Sure enough once he was descended below us he came back with ' we have a new ETA'. Lo and behold it was two minutes after us. Already below us, we then had to slow right back.
Aside from the obvious issue of lying to ATC, and holding us up drastically, there is also the issue we thought he was four minutes ahead of us already in the procedure so were flying the normal profile speeds.
It isn't an isolated 'mistake'. It happens frequently. This operator has FMS. If we can give accurate ETA's without it I'm sure they can with a combination of all their resources available to them. I have also heard Captains with them laugh it off saying, and I quote "it's all part of the game".
So my question is, what can be done to address this? Surely it must annoy controllers as much if not more than us?
Any comments gratefully received.