I inadvertantly drove away from traffic lights with handbrake on and was alerted by warning on MFD. Will I have done any sort of damage in that time?

I shouldn't of thought so if you have only gone a couple of hundred yards.

Are there any new/strange noises now?

If not, then don't worry about it.

I doubt you would have caused any damage. If the handbrake was on that hard, you would have had difficulty to pull away (to the point of realising the handbrake was on) so my guess is that it probably wasn't on that hard so everything should be fine.

Thanks very much for your reassurance.

when you next use your handbrake, check to see if the lever is coming up farther than usual - it's pretty unlikely you would have done any damage but the cable could have stretched a little.

no damage at all, if you've got discs on the back then the only strain will have been on the callipers and tyres just like under normal braking

when you next use your handbrake, check to see if the lever is coming up farther than usual - it's pretty unlikely you would have done any damage but the cable could have stretched a little.

No worries about that. The handbrake has a self tensioning mechanism that will tighten it up after a few pulls. Which is why it's a good practice to use the handbrake constantly.

No worries about that. The handbrake has a self tensioning mechanism that will tighten it up after a few pulls. Which is why it's a good practice to use the handbrake constantly.

especially around corners i just hark back to the days before tensioners that worked

If the back wheels and axle fall out, you know what happened.