I’ve actually managed to get hold of a Vista Disk.
Really!! So doing either a fresh install of Vista or Windows 7 will get rid of the hidden Partition (PQSERVICE) i.e. the partition that allows me to do a factory restore of Vista along with all of Acers Bloat/Cr*pware.
Isn’t there a way of doing an install & keeping this partition or even inserting the portion back via an Acronis backup after the fresh install?
As long as your in control of what gets formatted then hopefully you can leave the required partition and do what you want with the rest, but you do need to keep an eye in the advanced options for formating and creating partitions to ensure not touching the hidden section, haven't done this so can't be certain on how it would go, but logically it should be fine as long as your careful.

I don’t think they ship to the UK
No they're are US based, although word was they were coming over here at some point

Please do is there any that are based here in the Uk
My usual haunt is Ebuyer, great prices and service most of the time, bujt they can stuff up bad at times as well, but on the whole they are good.