cheshire190e wrote: \
O--------------------handbrake cable
/

ASCII art - dontchaloveit?

As per Chesh's excellent diagram, there are two legs coming off the central handbrake cable. One of them can snap which will give you loads of slack and reduced hand brake power, but still enough to get by on. Not sure if it'll pass MOT like that even if it's tightened up as much as possible, but possibly if the tester was a bit of an idjit.

I thought the drums were self adjusting too - but TBH I've never had one apart.

There is a self adjuster in them, but they should be "reset" before the handbrake is sorted. To reset, just stick a levery thing in the rachet and let them spring out, then brake pedal a few times to sort the rachet out (from memory, I'm sure the green books will explain it better!)