After parking the car on reasonably level ground for over two weeks the rear brakes would not release. only after reversing they released (with a loud click).

I have chamfered the edges of the shoes in the hope that this would resolve the problem but has not. Anybody got any suggestions please

I had basically the same issue on my Fabia. Mine would stick after leaving it over night. Would feel like the handbrake is on then a clunk and would release but would bind. Would also be worse if I washed my car too strangely. I had new handbrake cables, new shoes and lever assembly and the lip on the drum machined. This has completely cured my issues. Hope that helps.

I just replaced the shoes shoes with Bosch ones, I found the springs were a lot stronger for releasing and abit grease on the rear backing plate surface so everything is nice and free.

 

I then ripped the full axle off and put discs and pads on the rear

 

if i know the cars being left for more than a few days I just leave it in gear with the handbrake off and stick some bricks around if needed 

 

My wife's car had this issue that whenever it was washed/left for a period the handbrake would stick and actually failed the MOT this year due to the rear brakes binding. I stripped them down and noticed that the handbrake lever on the shoes (both sides although it only 'failed' on the offside) had seized and wasn't releasing properly (plenty of meat left on the shoes so no point changing unnecessarily). It had a little movement but nowhere near enough! Stripped them down, freed up the lever on the shoes (did both sides) and not had any issues since middle of August - sailed through the re-test and the handbrake adjusted itself and holds on fewer clicks as well (which it obviously wasn't able to do before). Also, when washed/left for a week-or-so when we went away, the handbrake releases without any sticking whatsoever.

I'd also include cleaning up the rusted points on the drum as a way of slowing down this happening again soon, if possible return the swept area of the drums to shiny silver. Oh, and make a habit of servicing the brakes, back and front every year.