...[snip]...There’s no decent distributor here in the U.K other than Dancap and you have to email them and pay via bank transfer which takes lots of time and gives you no idea of stock levels etc.
Hakko's pricing outside of the NA seems borderline extortionate as well from my POV, so I doubt that's helping their adoption rate in the UK/EU market either.
There is
Batterfly in Italy though. Their pricing seems more reasonable (i.e. 279 EUR for an FX-951), and they do have an e-store. Not sure about any additional customs duties and the like, but perhaps worth considering for those wanting a Hakko product or consumables.
But I certainly get the attraction of RS's speed and convenience given your location.
Same with DigiKey here in the US. Decent results from Mouser and Allied IME as well (may not be free, but it's rather reasonable, if not outright inexpensive).