Never got to ask about the cause of the crack what info I got was the piece of wood wasn't fixed to the front panel it was only screwed to the bracket to stop the front panel moving back

Daved is the wood on yours fixed (glued) to the front panel or is it just held in place with masking tape

Masking tape!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didnt look for a bodge but i would have remembered and when I looked I can remember it being pretty solid which was cause for concern so I'll go for glue?
Why? Youve got me worried now

did yours crack because there was no support or because it was held too rigidly?
As we're almost certainly keeping the van long term, to be fair its Discover we hate not the van, I was considering cutting the bracket back and making one up using a flexible mount (maplins used to sell them for electronic circuit mounting) at some point along it to give some flex.