19th Oct 2015, 10:25
Problem was intermittent, but became progressively worse. I had the car checked by VW and it turns out the negative cable to the battery was corroded/corroding as well as having a dead cell on the (new < 6 month old) battery. Easy/cheap to fix if you know what the problem is.
15th Sep 2015, 16:54
I wouldn't worry about that too much. Power steering and brakes are completely separate, so mashing down on the brakes would still be fine in that situation. Worst comes to worst, you have the emergency brake for some extra stopping power.