A bad earth wire from the starter to the Disco`s body caused the elec to travel along the handbrake cable, I know this because there was smoke from the handbrake cable, I`ve fixed the bad earth but the handbrake is stuck on because the handbrake cable has welded its self and won`t free off, I`m going to have to take the prop off to get to the handbrake assy to bin the cable and buy new arn`t I? What a palarva!

You can never have too many earth straps - I've got one chassis to gearbox, one battery to chassis and one battery to engine.

if its just the cable stuck together quick work round is to cut the cable near the brake assy so the handbrake releases.... if you think about where yer parking , just leaving it in gear is normally enough, then needs fixing before next mot.