Having been at a few of these things now, I would have to say that yesterday’s was not completely typical. At the last one, they had a representative of the French Interior Ministry and he was a completely different kettle of fish altogether - clear and helpful.
I suppose the Embassy’s actual main job is to present the UK to the world as almost a PR job. Looking after UK citizens who have fallen foul of UK government idiocy is not really within their competence I think.