Essentially the same thing happened to me, not surprising seeing as me and Llama spent quite a lot of time together growing up lol.
After my GCSE's which were average I suppose, I took the 'expected route' and stayed on at my school to go through sixth form. I pretty much coasted my way through my GCSE's and didn't come out the other side too badly, I took this same mentality into sixth form and when exam time rolled round I was totally f***ed. I bummed out hard on my first year getting 4 E grades and 1 D grade at AS level.
After a very sobering interview with one of our heads of sixth form, I decided to re-take my AS year and try to get some decent grades. I very nearly did the exact same thing, it was only when I realised that all of my friends (now in the year above) were getting university offers in and getting really excited about leaving for university that I thought it was about time i pulled my finger out of my arse and got down to some hard work, and it payed off, I came out of my second year of AS with 2 B grades, 2 C grades and 1 E grade (the E being in physics which I still maintain to be f***ing hard).
I continued this studious approach to my education through to A2 and managed to come out of A2 with 3 C grades which was enough to secure me my place at my first choice university (university of Kent in Canterbury, England) where I am now studying computer science with a year in industry.
Overall I would say that if you know deep down that you are academically capable then go for the academic route, because in the end when you put the effort in you realise just how rewarding it is when you achieve a high grade. But if you know academia is not for you, I wouldn't let yourself be forced into it, I have seen some kids whose parents have forced them into higher education and it has made them really depressed because they just can't cope with the demands of higher education.