Originally Posted by
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Steve, I agree my example may not have been totally clear. Yes, a Basic Service can be offered by a LARS service. But a Basic Service can also be offered by someone without a radar feed. For example,
AFAIK, London Info doesn't (formally) have radar available.
(Rumour has it that London Info does have access to radar, but either the radar feed or the controllers are not certified, so they cannot use it to offer e.g. a Traffic Service. But it does help them in identifying aircraft positions.)
The people who speak to you on London Info are not controllers, they are assistants with Area FISO Licenses and as such cannot 'use' radar ie identify individual aircraft, provide radar based ATSOCAs or issue executive instructions, they can only provide basic (flight information) service with proximity hazard warnings where it is apparent to them that two or more aircraft may get close to each other based on position reports.