John, rotors turning refuelling is done at many places in UK; e.g. London Heliport and Sywell, Blackbushe etc. Also it is completely commonplace in the military. All have been risk assessed and procedures are in place to minimise those risks.
However, the procedure isn't done by the (alone) pilot with the engine running and no-one manning the controls simply to save on engine cycles. Seems to me that the holes in the cheese are being unnecessarily put in close alignment in that instance.
If rotors running refuelling is required by a company they can apply for an exemption/permission to disregard the terms of the Air Navigation Order. However, terms and conditions will be attached. I know that the above situation wouldn't be allowed by such a permission.
My aircraft has cycle counts on the undercarriage, as well as on the engines. Maybe it would be acceptable to hover-jump passengers to save unnecessary cycles; after all, we used to do that in the military all the time.
