Please let me clarify the situation regard Luton LARS and zone transits.
Yes, LARS is being withdrawn from 30 Nov. It is a decision we have relutctantly had to take but with the increasing commercial traffic and some staff leaving we have little spare capacity to provide it. We have struggled to do so this summer and have had to NOTAM 'No LARS available' on many occasions.
We have not provided a separate frequency for ATSOCAS (not just LARS) for well over a year. Again, with the increase in traffic we had to re-configure the system so that both radar controllers handled Luton arrivals (and departures if necessary). 129.55 became the Intermediate Director and 128.75 the Final Director. The Intermediate Director was left to provide LARS and Zone Transits if he/she had any spare capacity.
Zone transits should not be affected by the decision to withdraw LARS but obviously the amount of inbound/outbound traffic the Intermediate Director is handling does affect his/her capacity to handle transits. Another complication is that since July time the go-around procedures on our runways now go to alt 3,000ft instead of 2,000ft so we can no longer put VFR traffic over the landing threshold at 2,500ft if we have traffic on final.
But, as Cahlibahn says, give us a call and ask (yes, do say 'for zone transit' on first tx). Listen out first and if the guy is working his bal, er, socks off then perhaps another day. If we cannot do overhead then we'll try 8nm east or west. Rightstuffer, I am sorry that you have been put off calling us. Don't be frightened of us, we are human (well, most are!) E-mail me and come and visit.
Beagler - you mention 'the corridor' almost as if it is available without calling ('in their interests to know who you are and your intentions'.) I'm sure you don't mean that. In fact, 'the corridor' is really entry/exit lanes for SVFR traffic arriving and departing, please see the UK AIP. We also use them to enable the Tower to depart VFR traffic without co-ordination with APR. Their tracks are not really suitable to transits (Hemel-overhead almost looks up the 26 climbout!)
I hope that clarifies the situation.