Hi, I've had a look at the common problems, and also searched the forum, but no joy...

The rear brake backplate where the handbrake mechanism sits (inside the disc/drum) has become distorted and torn and the handbrake operating lever has broken clean off. I guess that the mechanism had seized so was imposing more force on the lever.
My father in law took it to his garage, and they told him that the backplate was no longer available from Vauxhall (which I have confirmed), and to scrap the car!

Tried a few specialist breakers but no luck, but there are a few in my nearest scrapyard (about 50 miles away!) so I'm going to try there.
The question is - how do you remove the hub to change the backplate? I've popped off the dustcap expecting to find a biiiig nut to undo, but nothing! So I expect that I have to split the driveshaft at the outer joint, but that looks a bit of a ball ache...
He bought a manual on CD from ebay, but couldn't get it to run without crashing, so looks like we will have to get a Haynes book of lies, unless someone could help please?
As a last resort, if the 'proper' way isn't practical to carry out in a scrapyard, I was considering cutting a segment out of the backplate, and welding it back up again in situ. As far as I can see, this shouldn't cause any problems as the fixing bolts will keep it from distorting even if is wasn't welded.