How do you remove the rear boot lock trim strip?

[jay2]

So the g/f's little darling managed to yank the trim strip instead of the handles and broke one of the lugs and jammed the handles on the rear boot lock strip of my wagon.




Went to the scrappies and dropped on one in the same colour! Result. Spent 10-15 minutes removing the trim and all the bolts I could see. Then spent the next two hours wrestling with how to get it off without breaking it, as the black handles wouldn't let me remove it all together. Eventually lost my wragg, yanked it and broke it.

So, looked in the Haynes manual and it doesn't mention anything on how to remove it, only how to take the lock out, so anybody know how to remove the lot without breaking it and ending up at square one?

I couldn't figure out how to remove/wiggle the black handles to get the one piece long strip out in one go? What am I missing?

Any help greatly appreciate, tried the search without much luck.
Cheers
Jay2


PS. Next job is to treat it to a wash!