I agree completely London Mil.
I personally think there is a place for "practice Pans" and "Training Fixes" as well. I assume sensible precautions are taken to make sure that no one else is in a real Pan/Mayday situation.
I was sailing over the weekend.. here the "guard" freq is also used to advice of wx warnings and other relevant "NOTAMS" or whatever they have!! I'd say there freq is more congested as a result than ours is because of practice pans.