I agree wholeheartedly with Scott. It is not the prime responsibility of ATC to "rescue" ill-prepared pilots (although I've done it hundreds of times).
To head off on a long flight without carrying the approach plates for the destination strikes me as irresponsible, particularly so given a) the vagaries of out British weather and b) the inability of the Met organisations to provide accurate forecasts. Before anyone shouts me down... it's just after 0700z on 11th October in central southern England. For at least 4 hours, on and off, we have had thunderstorms and heavy rain... The BBC online weather forecasts says this morning will be "light showers". Metcheck says no rain until 0800z, then increasing amounts during the day. UK.weather.com does at least say "rain" all morning.
When I worked at a small UK airfield a Cessna 310 called at 7am one morning, completely out of the blue. We were fogged out (to his amazement) so he attempted an NDB let-down. I asked the local RAF radar unit to monitor the procedure and it horrified them so much they offered a diversion into their airfield, which the pilot accepted. They spoke with the pilot later and mentioned various obstacles in the vicinity, to which he had gotten close. The pilot's response was "I thought it was ATC's job to talk us round obstacles". I wonder if he's still alive?