Beavis, same happened to us a few days ago, called 8 minutes prior to CTOT to be told we had missed our slot. We were on a stand that had us close to the runway in use so we were quite pissed off, a thomson had the same problem but were told they couldn't start until -15 of CTOT, they replied saying they could depart -5 of CTOT and told no, it was the controllers discretion and they wouldn't be applying it, anyway a new slot for us mean't we were delayed 40 minutes, needlessly.
Also the French can't let the spanish take all the talktime, they were given no directs, no climbs either. We asked to climb above our filed level and told no, our flight plan capped us. Asked the next 2 sectors to be told the same. Another aircraft questioned it once they were refused too and told "we apply rules from our administrators". I assume this is some directive from eurocontrol about capacity in peak summer or is this how its going to be from now on?
Airspace was quiet and no aircraft occupied the level we wanted, so all in all, a waste of fuel, time and money.