Arctic - many thanks for suggesting this, a MINI handbrake arrived yesterday and I replaced the stretched compensator on the LWB today. IMHO a much better design than the original (un)compensator.
For anyone contemplating this on a LWB/Limo/VDP, it's a worse job since the rear footwell carpet is bespoke and glued in place - carpet over semi-rigid backing over 6mm foam. The latter is the pig since it's the sort that disintegrates if you try to peel it, the other two layers can be peeled away individually or together.
It's far easier to go in from under the front seats - the bespoke carpet starts just at the under-seat air vent, and is held in place by the rear seat rail bolts - so remove both seats and peel the carpet from the front edge towards the back of the car. I tried peeling from the back forwards first, but gave up when I realised that the seats had to come out anyway
Some shaky phone photos, driver's side showing the start of the peel back against the console:
and on the passenger side:
When you get to the compensator cover plate removal, you have to find the three mounting screws by feel, then trace the edge of the plate with a sharp knife to cut the foam. Easy once you've found the front corners and back edge by locating the screws!
In total the job took four hours, and I'm familiar with working on the interior so wasn't fumbling around. In the end I removed both front seats, plus removed the four front securing screws for the centre console to allow for greater lift. TBH it was only laziness that stopped me taking the gearknob off and lifting the whole console out!
Having the passenger seat out made the job a whole lot easier - I could easily thread old & new compensator cables around/through the various obstacles. I have to do the same job on the estate and will go down this route for that one too.
Finally, one of these little Rolson ratchet screwdrivers was very handy for removing the two side screws of the centre console:
