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Hi,
I was talking on Skype to a friend of mine who lives in South Africa, and she told me that she was penalised on her driving licence practical test over there for pulling up on the handbrake without pressing the button on the end of the lever. I've always just simply pulled up the lever without the button, but the fact that she was penalised on her driving test for something like this has got me thinking is that bad for the brake? Should I press the button in before pulling up the handbrake or keep doing what I currently do and simply pull up on the brake without holding down the button?

Hi there,
I have never heard of this rule in NZ.
Maybe on very old cars back in the day, the ratchet would wear. You wouldn't experience the same thing today.
A lot of late model cars have electric park brakes and have no lever with ratchet.