No SID in clearance, fly it anyway?

or below the altitude to which the departing a/c was cleared...Is
that what the tower said could happen?

That's what I remember of the conversation. It's been a couple of
months.

I suspect they see enough pilots not flying ODPs that they don't take
it into consideration.

Still, I'm sure similar situations occur almost everywhere. Even when
there's no climb in hold, there are DP dings that could take you into
the flight path of other aircraft if ATC didn't expect you to fly it.

d like to check wih some ATC safety folk that I know to verify that
this sort of thing is n accord with proper procedure.

I'd be interested to know as well, given the implication that the ODP
is always protected.