came out of work tonight at 10 after drivin it at 6 amd as i drove off it felt as if the handbrake war still on even thn i had realeased it amd then after a while it released on its own was it frozen or is it somethin more

I would say it was almost definately frozen! Its very cold outside! I can drive a few miles in my car, go back to it an hour or two later and have to defrost it again!

Hello mate, had the same problem this morning, made me an hour and a half late for work!! If it happens again get underneath from the drivers side about half way along the car and get a 2ltr coke bottle full of hot water and squeeze it really hard, firing the water up towards the exhaust heatshield. Worked for me this morning but don't use the handbrake again until it dries out or warms up otherwise it just sticks on again worse than before (as I found out when I went to leave work this evening!!)

Lee

Were the handbrake cable goes into the drum through the back plate there is a gromit to stop water getting into the drum.

That gromit perishes and water gets in and freezes so when you release your handbrake the mechanism does not release the brakes.

A tempary fix is to put grease around the cable on the back plate to stop the moisture getting in.

Have you got discs or drums on the rear?