in one aspect of the invention there is provided a method of manually releasing power actuated vehicle park means in the absence of power , the method comprising the steps of : rotating a power actuated selector shaft from a park mode position in which one or more wheels are locked by the park means to a park release mode position in which the one or more wheels are released by the park means ; and locking the selector shaft in the release mode position by means of locking means , whereby the successive steps of rotating the selector shaft to the release mode position and subsequently locking the selector shaft in the release mode position comprise manual translation or rotation of one or more members in first and second directions respectively , the first direction being different from the second direction .