Erm....am i missing the point of the IMC?? I have an IMC and night and although i can use the night rating anywhere within the EU i can only use the IMC within UK airspace and the channel islands. So how did Steve (unless he is IR rated) do the day trip with out breaking a few rules ( unless he was VMC all the way!!). That feeling of the first cloud break is pretty awesome though i did it a few months back after an ILS into Bournemouth!
Tom