Thanks very much BlobOnAStick. As it turns out, just after sending this Mrs pdw finally found a shop prepared to let us pay our stupidity tax and sell us a cable so I think we’re sorted. Had a plan involving blue tak and cut wires, but kind of glad we didn’t have to.
We’re a bit curious about what happened as it certainly hasn’t done many miles since it was charged and it arrived here flat as pancake. It was on a bike rack so nothing pressing a shift button, and it’s wireless so whilst that might flatten the shifter it shouldn’t affect the main battery. I thought they were supposed to go into rear mech only mode if the battery was low, but this went from fully working in the UK to absolutely dead here. A
As for blaming the Mrs, it’s her bike so…
Interestingly, the SRAM AXS on my MTB arrived completely flat too.