So much for a job that only takes a few minutes, but we never used that basin as the kitchen sink was under 10 feet away, and that was where were the soap and towels.
However, I digress.
One of the taps was completely locked solid, and 5 days of soaking alternately in both white vinegar (to get rid of scaling) and WD40 did not produce the desired affect, so it was off to B&Q for replacement parts.
My first reaction was to bin the seized-up tap, until I realised that it still had a use, or rather, the screw tail still had a use after being sawn off, and that is to make use of discarded tails, connecting them back-to-back.