Thanks everyone, the buggers off and I only skinned my pinky (finger). I took the cog of, popped the mole grips on the bottom race, put that into the work bench, turned clockwise and squashed my finger. I then threw away the crappy one and now perusing replacements on flea bay.
Thanks all for your help, especially sawzall, fischflo and moose. Moose, I saw your sig once state "Trust Moose", I did and all was good.