Generally good companies give interns real world work in the UK. So much so, the teams you work with may not even know you are an intern.

A year in industry is what secures good jobs for alot of good people. Coming out of Uni without a placement in the UK makes it harder for you to land a good job as you are seen as having no experience, but with a year in indsutry you have real world experience plus a degree, it sounds like you know someone that had a crap placement, dont that that skew your thoughts on placements, there are alot of excellent ones in the UK