Old & Bold
You are right Eric, but being much older you have a better memory than me.
However, I was involved with the Prestwick transfer and you are right, NATS walked out at midnight on the 1st April and refused access to the incoming contractors to the tower until 23:59.Therefore CAA SRG had to issue green field validations to the interim Serco ATCOs.Bloody irresponsible and very dangerous.But it worked.
I was also involved in the Hurn handover in 1985 when Airwork took over from NATS/CAA (and they did throw the Landrover keys into the grass !!)Again bloody irresponsible and very dangerous. But it worked.