Capt - It appears to have as much to do with traffic levels as to which particular watch is on duty at Muckamore. The majority of those guys are great, but there are a few who, through a slavish following of the book or through lack of interest, just put you over Bangor even when the TMA is devoid of any other flying machines.
As for protecting 04 deps, that's one of the few reasons you will get a "standard noise climbing alt......" type clearance. We don't particularly like it, but hey we're only amateurs, they're the professionals, they know what they're doing!
Eastern - "meanwhile I am giving the noisy one a handover as he has only primary contacts on his screen" - mmm, yeah and that's all I've had at my two units since I left the National Air Traffic Shambles and guess what? It works quite well if you know how to use it. You obviously don't remember - not on watch yesterday then!
bobmij - check your private messages Re pics