I've been torrenting for around 7 years without any problems, maybe the UK's just lax?
(I torrented the Big Short Blue Ray, too. )
These days, I encrypt all incoming traffic with RC4 and also download all my torrents through the TOR network. This not only hides my location to a "good" degree, but the RC4 encryption also encrypts the full data stream so an ISP can't detect that my traffic is torrent related, thus preventing them throttling my speed and making copyright claims.