On Mon, 23 Jul 2018 08:44:27 +0100, "NY" wrote:

snip

I tend to leave my
car in first/reverse gear if I'm parking on a very steep hill, as an added
safeguard - the equivalent of leaving an automatic in Park.

True (indirect equivalent) but I thought 'Park' on an auto was a
completely locked off gear / box (that couldn't be defeated under any
conditions) whereas leaving a manual in gear could allow the vehicle
to move slowly as it turned the engine over?

snip

The way you see people tugging at the handbrake in US films makes me think a
lot of people think you should use it in every emergency ;-)

I think it can depend on the vehicle. On our Meriva (rear disks)
pulling the handbrake on seems to have little impact to anything under
any conditions (other than stopping it blowing away in a light breeze
maybe) whereas the handbrake (drums) on the kitcar will allow you to
lock the rear wheels up whilst it's moving fairly quickly (even though
it's quite a bit heavier and especially on the rear than the Mk2
Escort saloon it was built from).

The handbrake on the GT86 I drove at Brands the other day was very
effective but it didn't have a locking function. ;-)

Cheers, T i m