I made my post before it was revealed that there was a student involved, so no, he doesn't deserve a kicking!
His instructor on the other hand.......
The way it read from the original post was that the flight originated from WW, and one imagines that any qualified pilot flying from there would know not to fly east!
I'm not an instructor, but I can't help thinking that WW, with it's proximity to LHR, is not a particularly good place to send a student on a XC excercise.
I wonder how this episode has affected the student's confidence.