I agree that the Split controller gave an incorrect clearance and that controllers should be aware of what they are doing
I'd say he acted fully in accordance with international practice.
It's not his job to plot the filed route on a VFR chart (all 10 of them, or so) all the way to destination, and spot any sections going OCAS, and clear you only to the first bit of Class G, some 880nm down the road
A German IR holder will end up doing the same thing if he comes over here.
Not suggesting there is an easy solution, because clearly this is the way the UK system has worked for many years. I would guess, from listening to this discussion ebbing and flowing on various forums over time, that there is considerable institutional ATC resistance to changing the system. The reasons are opaque (PMs on this topic are rarely answered) but I'd guess that any change would require a French-style unified radar service which has implications on ATCO pay scales. You only have to look at the furore, occassionally vented over here by FBU staff, over the AFPEx system and the preceeding FBU closures to get a measure of emotions in this game.
I am informed by a French pilot I know that all French ATCOs are automatically radar qualified and this is how even sleepy French towers can have a radar display (probably coming over ADSL
). And, unlike those at London Information, they are allowed to use it.