OhNoCB
I've been following this with interest....but I'm spurred into action by your 17th Sept addition. I must say that in my opinion....and if the facts are correct...that you received a very poor service which does not reflect the high standards of service delivery normally associated with the dedicated and professional team on London FIR.
A normal process would have been to inquire as to your intended route and with that knowledge the "FIR" would tailor the service and provide timely assistance and/or information. In this case I would have asked for an AMMAN estimate and relayed that to Cardiff.....if a clearance was not immediately available at least Cardiff would be aware and might possibly have issued a transponder code and contact frequency [probably including a "remain outside controlled airspace" or similar] prior to transfer.
Was it exceptionally busy on FIR frequency? I can't second-guess what happened on the day, but I work with all the units you have mentioned on a daily basis and they are very very good....this case should be viewed as unrepresentative of the normal service delivery standard.