Hi again OHM,

thanks for the below suggestion I tried this and it didn't work or
didn't work consistantly.. what I've eventually done  - and this is a
little clumsy  - but is now working the way I want is the following:

Created a custom control button in which I put the following

Protected Overrides Function ProcessCmdKey(ByRef msg As
System.Windows.Forms.Message, ByVal keyData As
System.Windows.Forms.Keys) As Boolean
       Select Case CType(msg.WParam.ToInt32, Keys)
           Case Keys.Enter
               bln_enterKeyPressed = True
               Return True
           Case Else
               bln_enterKeyPressed = False
               Return MyBase.ProcessCmdKey(msg, keyData)
       End Select
   End Function

   Public ReadOnly Property EnterKeyPressed() As Boolean
       Get
           Return bln_enterKeyPressed
       End Get
   End Property

Basically doesn't respond to the enter key but the property records
that the
enter key was pressed & then in the form that the custom control
button sits on:-

Private Sub cc_TabPageButton_KeyUp(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles cc_TabPageButton.KeyUp
   If e.KeyCode = Keys.Tab Then ' -  ignore the tabkey as the user
will have tabbed to the control
   Else
      If cc_TabPageButton.EnterKeyPressed Then
           ButtonDualHandler()
       End If
   End If
End Sub

Private Sub cc_TabPageButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles cc_TabPageButton.Click
         ButtonDualHandler()
   End Sub

Thanks again for your replies, they helped to point me in the right
direction

Regards
Suzanne