UPDATE: problem is with gridpp DNS. Temp workaround is this:
$ export LCG_GFAL_INFOSYS=lcgbdii.gridpp.rl.ac.uk
Apparently GridPP DNS has problems, you may see errors like this:
lcg-bdii.gridpp.ac.uk:2170: Can't contact LDAP server
lcg_cr: Host is down
Failed to copy and register file
