ATC do a great job at ABZ most of the time. Pilots at ABZ do a great job most of the time. Sometimes a little understanding on both sides goes a long way.
Perhaps this is the time for ATC and helicopter crews to have another meeting at a local hotel for a beer and a chat?
It would also be nice to have some of the ATC offshore controllers come with us just to see our side of the job, and also more pilots visit ATC to see their side of the job. Those pilots from my company who have visited ATC have found it to be a very worthwhile experience and now have a better understanding as to why controllers ask us to do certain things like holding at Balmedie in SVFR. (Where exactly is the Balmedie hold? - we have NOBAL and BALIS in our systems, but not "Balmedie").
Some even had the chance to have a go on the ATC simulator and found it wasn't so easy to mix in rotary and fixed wing (who no doubt moan in the real world that they have to hold because of inbound helicopters short of fuel) - and that was without all the phones going!