I found that the pin was catching in the housing, a quick file with a dremel freed it up. Tyre tube trick is clever
Just sorted out a shit of a mess - i realised that the broken switch would work if i put some tape between switch and hand grip - however, that fucked the proper movement of the brake master cylinder mechanism and took me a week to work out why my front brake wasn't working - have now removed the tape and bought an after-market switch and should have done that in the first place - anyway will now get it sorted - i will try the bit of cardboard when fitting the brake handle back on so that i don't break the new brake switch