It's a disgrace Mini have got away with this for so long. More "responsible" manufacturers would have issued a recall and replaced the part! Plus I believe the part is currently artificially high in price to help cover their costs !
It's a health and safety issue and should have been fixed years ago!
Had to replace the power steering pump in the mini last year, mini were of no help, luckily enough i still had some warranty left from the garage i bought the car from and got it fixed