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So do you think an offshore call centre operative would understand (say) a Geordie or a Glaswegian better than a UK based call centre operative then?

Offshore is cheaper but frequently less effective either for reasons of language or because they have been given scripts to follow rather than proper training in the product (this happens for some UK support too). If VM used exclusively UK based support I suspect that prices would have to rise and you'd still have no guarantee that your problem would be fixed first time. It's a balancing act and VM have chosen to have both offshore and UK support - if people have a problem with that then they always have the choice of taking their business elsewhere.