I think that there is a general lack of customer service culture in the UK in general. Not just in the airline business but right across the board. I work in ops for a handling agent at MAN, and I previously worked for a large British Carrier not named British Airways or Virgin in customer "service". It was the only experience I have ever had in this side of the industry, having always worked in ops or on the ramp. That said, I found thew ay that some of my coworkers spoke to the customers to be quite apalling.
Nobody holds a gun to these peoples heads when they take the jobs. This is a customer facing environment and if people dont want to provide customer service they should go do something else.