Thank you all for your helpful replies.
I have managed to obtain a reduction of £400.00 from the dealer as apparently I was being charged the incorrect hourly rate. It still seems excessive to me but I do believe they spent a long time in diagnosing what would appear to be a relatively minor electrical fault. Also, did I really require new brake shoes after just 100,000 kms?
Its all well and good trying to find a reliable local garage but because every bloody fault has to be analysed by a computer, the garage often ends up taking it to the main dealer to put on their computer to analyse or clear the fault, it often costs more as a third party is involved as well.