I would definitely vouch for the Scottish Information guys reputation in providing a service which goes above and beyond the laid down 'contract' which FIS demands. They regularly, in my experience, track down aircraft they have lost contact with in order to make sure things are alright. A nice enhancement to the service and provides that initial early warning in the event things are not going to plan. Of course, this does require pilots to speak to them
I'd agree that the coverage of the FIS is generally OK above 3000' in the areas North and West of the Central Lowlands (i.e. Glasgow and Edinburgh). You'd probably want to be above that altitude anyway in the mountains unless the weather is great and you know where you're going.
The local rag has the aircraft as G-JMTT which would make it a Piper PA28R Arrow based in Essex. Understandably the registered owner of the group aircraft refused to speak to the paper about the incident. The police have stated that the alarm was raised by one of the group members when they realised it had not returned from Scotland.
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