Originally Posted by T250
One should be monitoring ATC at all times. I repeat, at all times.
Just like a controller should never miss a call....like, maybe, because they're on a landline!
Let's get real! Maybe someone screwed something up. Maybe more than one person screwed something up. We all have a job to do and we all have priorities, some of which change with the situation. It was a good outcome - nothing got harmed except a bit of pride or whatever, maybe justifiably, maybe not. And everyone can screw something up, even on a good day! And on a less good day, little things can get to us all and we can behave in ways that are less than perfect.
It's hard to tell exactly what happened just from that recording - it could have been edited, who knows - but there were crossed transmissions that were not necessarily obvious to either the controller or crew (note to UK controllers - not everywhere do controllers have the luxury of off-air sidetone). And I don't know the layout of the aprons, or the comms between flightdeck and ground crew, so I'm not going to try to second guess what actually happened.
A report is going in - there's no reason to imagine that it will not be professionally investigated to find out what happened and to try and find ways to prevent a recurrence.