Kiltie
I wouldn't call considering Stansted Director to be en route "bizarre", my dictionary defines en route as "on or along the way". In my view it is more bizarre the Scottish Control do not seem to believe that Aberdeen can verify a mode C.
I'm sure Scottish would argue that they don't know whether any given aircraft has talked to Aberdeen Radar and so they can't know if verification has occured. As a pilot I would argue that I shouldn't have to know this level of detail and should just be able to make the correct first call to the first radar unit after take off and should thereafter consider myself validated and verified.
G W-H