Daz, the posts themselves are locked as they are not intended to be commented on, but the section itself is open and all the posts are there to read. Let me know if you have a problem again and I'll check the admin of the section.
Don't know the answer myself, but one piece of advice is get a cheap set of trim tools off eBay for £5 to avoid future hacking damage. I learnt that one to my cost early on.