That's how the LC rear pads are held into the AP calipers. But VX seemed to have specced the crappiest grade of steel for the split pins, and they rust to hell and back making it quite difficult to extract them. Many of us have switched to A4 stainless pins. You also don't want to spread the ends apart too much because you need to close them up again to get them out.
Never really had any problems with the Omega pins though. A sharp smack with a medium hammer on the correct size drift and they're out. Clean and grease them up and they're good to go again.
You could close the ends, straighten the pin and either drift it out hoping you don't bend it, or pull it out with some mole grips hoping it all stays in one piece. Then there's the easy way; cut out the middle section with some side cutters and watch the retaining ends fall to the ground.
The split pins usually have one longer end 'tail' than the other. This makes drifting them out a problem because you're belting just one side of the split, and it tends to fold over. Also the middle bit of the cheap VX steel pins tends to rust, and become bigger than the hole that you're trying to get it out/through. You can't really get mole grips on the eye end because access is a bit restricted. However, ultimately it's not the worst problem to overcome, and at £4 for a set of SS pins the issue can mainly be avoided in future.
I agree with the Omega pins, but you're unlikely to be the first person in there. And there are lots of mechanics who can damage anything.
Plenty of owners (including me) who are fully qualified when it comes to damaging things too.