@jgrist
Good question. Hopefully a UK EE will relieve the secrets behind its application in the UK. I don't believe the UK has my situation at hand but we will see.
The reasoning is twofold.
The first reason has to do with the distribution system itself. Larger load pockets are served directly from transmission, while lesser pockets are served via sub-transmission sometimes called "bulk distribution".
In a some areas 12kv (along with other distribution voltages like 22kv)used to be fed via Ygr-Ygr with a delta tertiary. I believe the reason for this was the insulation could be reduced on the primary and the delta fed ungrounded obsolete distribution voltages where the 12kv acted as sub-transmission before becoming distribution.
As these units were replaced with larger ones zero sequence currents passing into the 132kv system became a concern, especially with units over 30MVA which placed bothersome levels during faults on the 12kv system. A delta primary was chosen, however because of the phase shift older units could not be paralleled with newer ones. Delta-zig zag (Dyn0) were decided upon which allowed for paralleling during maintenance reasons or redundancy.
The 12kv system fed from sub-transmission on the other hand has always had a phase shift due to most 33kv, 46kv and 66kv lines being 3 wire with no neutral run. This lead to delta wye units.
This has never really be an issue, however with automatic load transfer and recloser loop schemes being implemented phase angle and especially transformer phase shift between systems have become a major headache. To increase reliability recloser loop schemes allow distribution to transfer into other neighboring systems fed by different substations. When putting the loop back to normal after the fault is repaired or the substation is put back on line the segment can not be restored via closed transition, the tie point into the neighboring system has to be opened before closing back into the regular system. As a result customers have to experience a second outage. If the first outage was resulting from a sub station outage as many as 12,000 customers have to experience a second outage as each feeder is transferred to the normal feed substation through open transition. Same goes for off loading a substation, 2 outages have to occur in this scenario when closed transition can eliminate both.
The second reason has to do with cogeneration and generation dispatch operations preferences. By having distribution in phase with transmission it is easier to keep an eye on the whole thing, much the same way its a preference (though many, many) times more to have bulk 400kv transmission in phase with 132kv local transmission. Generation feeding into both is in essence at the same rotor angle so to speak.