Farnborough LARS were saying they were unable to provide anything other than Basic Service for most of the afternoon. It did not appear to be workload or coverage issues, but rather that they had been told from 'higher up' not to. I wander what the rationale for that was?
NOTAM C1919 refers:
"DUE TO THE RESTRICTIONS APPLIED TO THE PROVISION OF RADAR SERVICES
CAUSED BY THE VOLCANIC DUST CLOUD PASSING OVER THE UK, FARNBOROUGH
RADAR CAN ONLY PROVIDE A BASIC SERVICE, ISSUE A VFR CLEARANCE AND
CANNOT OBTAIN CLEARANCE TO ENTER CONTROLLED AIRSPACE.
FROM: 15 APR 2010 13:10 TO: 15 APR 2010 21:00"