The calipers were replaced because they were either binding/not working correctly, or because the pad pins were fubar. (partly due to me, I'm sure, I can't blame them for not spending hours trying to drill pins out, etc) .
Yep fair enough! Makes sense.
The ABS sensor, with only an intermittent fault, had them scratching their heads & they did consider a complete new ABS unit but were eventually able to determine that the sensor (859792) was the culprit.
Again, makes sense. And the dash lights kept trying to say that was the problem.
The lever going hard and the corresponding brake not working was due to seized pistons then. I'm surmizing.