As a pilot, rather amused to read this post...
Used to fly from an ATC-controlled grass airfield near Paris that would be CLOSED for grass-cutting. And yes, they had two runways...
Remember waiting for about 3 hours for this guy to get done while we sat sitting on our hands for a x-channel trip. Requests to the (usually very helpful & friendly) ATC unit to ask this guy to stop for simply the time to depart were futile. They said they had no control over the tractor....
Bureaucracy gone mad...
Now, knowing France better now, I would now just wander over to the tractor (perfectly safe thing to do of course, because the airfield is SHUT at this point...) & offer the guy some euros for "an early lunch break...."
Strange to hear this nonsense goes on in the UK as well....not Hurn is it by any chance?!?
