Good News, the dealer offered me £1595 for the old Merc. Within 30 seconds of posting the ebay price was £1595 (my reserve).
My EOS is in at the main dealer to have the abs repair kit fitted today. VW designed the brake pressure sensor into the pump itself. These sensors fail and the whole pump has to come out and be fixed (a £900 fix). If your VW has the ESP light on all the time it's worth taking it to a main dealer as they do the fix for free (rubbish design in the first place, VW want it kept off Watchdog) - Egbert Nosh's top tip for the day.