The controller certainly seems to share neither blame nor responsibility.
That said, with hindsight, they did give an unhelpful and mechanical response to an obviously confused arriving aircraft.
From the evidence presented here, I choose to believe that a less busy controller could have added more value, suggesting to me at least that controller staffing levels or workload may be a contributory factor.
Last edited by pilot9249; 12th Aug 2017 at 00:22.