Cannot release bonnet

[GRUST]

2008 Passat Sport TDI 4Motion

Hi guys, I wonder if any of you has the answer to this problem?
The bonnet is stuck in the locked position and the cable lever inside the car will not pop it open. There is a little resistance felt on the lever and I can hear movement of parts at the front but without the usual clunk of the catch disengaging.

Two weeks ago the bonnet would not stay locked shut so I cleaned components as best I could and sprayed WD40 liberally. Everything then worked well until this morning when I found that I could not open it.

I've searched similar problems on this forum and elsewhere and found two bits of advice that seemed relevant. One was to deliver sharp thumps to the bonnet above the catch. I tried this without success. The other was to twist off the VW emblem from the grill to access the cable. That was a non-starter – the badge will not turn and seems to be a different type to that depicted in the YouTube video.

I've taken off the lever arm hoping to then be able to pull directly on the cable end but it is behind paneling and seems inaccessible without some major dismantling.

I'm tempted to break the VW emblem to see if there is a piece of the cable accessible through the hole. However that is a bit drastic and expensive, especially if it doesn't solve the problem.

So before I hand it over to the professionals and take out a bank loan, has this happened to anyone else on here with this B6 model or similar? I'd be grateful for your thoughts.