Just got off the phone with the Social Media Executive, who has said that I need to take it to another VW garage to have it looked at, but if they turn round and agree that the EGR valve doesn't need replacing, then she said 'it's down to opinions' even though they're all trained by master tech's, so really I'm going to get nowhere.
I asked when the Master Techs would be in the North West, so the people training these grease monkeys could look at my car, but she refused to comment.