Err yes you can actually, in fact 97-98% of universities hold high regard for BTECs, they offer a lot more than what the syllabus teaches for A levels - and personally I should know as a few of my friends did, one has a scholarship at Goldsmiths - they only took it because they are paying £50,000 for him however he also had offers from Cambridge, Sheffield and QMU to study PPE or Economics. Another is doing Business Management with Chinese at SOAS.
It can't be annoying to say that having 3 D* is the same as 3 A* because guess what? They are the same!
You sound pretty naive as you've never done one, and the countless hours you say also suggests they work twice as harder than the average A-level student as they only need to remember exam material, which isn't pretty difficult if you suggest that it isn't.