So i set of to work today, everything was fine. I pulled into a collegues drive as we car share and pull the hand brake up. It was really tight and wouldnt click into place. i jumped out of the car and ran round it looking at each brake caliper and disk but couldnt see anything.

i got back into the car, drove it foreward a meter or so then reversed it the same distance. there was a couple of creaks when i pressed the brake pedal to stop but when i attempted to put the hand brake on it worked.

I reversed the car into a parking spot and applied the hand brake, then killed the ignition and released the foot brake. the car lowered slightly (as it always does when i park it facing down a slope) well, with the exception of the front drivers side this time.

Does anyone know what could be the cause? I'm hoping its just a seized brake as there is no damage that i can see to the disk's.

The cars parked at my collegues house and i cant do anyting until tomorrow afternoon but would love to know whats happened as its going to drive me mad not knowing until then.

cheers guys.

handbrake is on the rear only and it uses normal brake shoes so you wont see anything on the discs.... only way to check if anything is binding is to spin each wheel with the car jacked up.... there will be some resistance and u may hear the pad/shoe lightly touching the disc/drum - if there is a noticable difference between thw wheels get it looked at.

you might find the handbrake cable has stuck if you couldnt engage the handbrake.

is the cable visible from the underside of the car?

not really - you would have to jack it up to see it properly but you wont see if its siezed.

Quick check for binding, drive a couple of miles, then stop and feel each wheel [or disc if you can ]

The binding one will be hot or hotter than the others.BEWARE IF IT IS BINDING A LOT, DON'T BURN YOUR FINGERS!

Just a quick note, check the drum portion of the disc for heat (the portion that butts directly against your wheels), not the polished part of the disc as this will be hot from normal braking.