Karl, the EPB on VW's operates a pair of electric motors which clamp the pads against the disc, independent of hydraulics.
I recall delivering a C5 Picarseole with EPB as part of a load to one of my regular North Wales drops.
EPB would not release, car stuck in the middle of the truck...PDI centre i was delivering to hadn't a clue what to do as the model was still new.
So executive decision, consult handbook, sure enough there's a winding handle with a sprung wire that looks suspiciously like an IUD, you feel around the transmission tunnel for a rubber bung, insert said IUD through bung and locate it in some keyway, wind for a minute and there's an expensive sound snap, congrats you've just snapped the park brake cable requiring £££ to replace but you can at least move the car, the only issue then is to remember how to leave an automated manual with no P option in gear when you turn the engine off, fantastic...not.
By the way, not having a bloody EPB as long as i live, drove my bosses then Aldi A3, horrible auto box and even more horrible EPB, plus the bloody thing kept switching itself off every time you stopped at a junction, till i eventually found the cancel stop/start button...what a relief to get back in a real Toyota.