Originally Posted by
soaringhigh650
Why is that? Can't ATCers grant suitable clearances?
.....
I think a glider operating no transponder, not maintaining an altitude, unlikely to maintain a heading or location, potentially in and out of cloud, and presenting an intermittent primary target is a difficult thing to either call as traffic (if it is VFR) or provide separation against (if it is IFR). Moreover, UK ATC seem to have an imposed requirement to provide sufficient separation between IFR and VFR (in all airspaces - CDFG) to avoid a TCAS TA or a commercial crew seeing an aircraft separated from them by less than IFR vs IFR minimums.
These two issues probably explain why UK glider pilots feel UK ATC is unlikely to clear them into Class D airspace. (In that the glider pilots are probably correct, and ATC's approach is probably reasonable, given the rules they are held to)