Decided to do something about my rather stiff bonnet latch release following the garage mentioning it. The fear of it snapping when I needed to actually get into the engine bay got the better of me.
Found out why the original latch was becoming difficult to release the bonnet when compared to the new one. 14 years' worth of grot and grime. Plus the release cable had a couple of rusting splits in its outer sheath.
Replacement took about 45 minutes, latch came with release cable and sensor wire already attached. At the point of ordering the dealer did order a separate release cable as the system didn't indicate it came pre-assembled. Though on a subsquent visit the dealer said they'd ordered another bonnet release latch for a different customer and that didn't come with the release cable. So who knows...
The time consuming bit was releasing and removing the car's existing bonnet sensor cable. This goes from the latch to the nearside (passenger side) of the engine bay, the opposite of the release cable. Sensor cable felt like it was tie-wrapped along the top of the radiator/fan enclosure. But it was actually just a very snug fit.
Bonnet is releasing effortlessly now, without fearing you have to snap the bonnet release handle in the footwell.