Adding that to the tips list next time I have some blind bearings to remove, in fact I think I have a rotating centre bearing to renew its bearings on. With respect to the machine shop who did the hub job this thread started with, I dabble in machineing jobs as time permits - on they might argue time vs cost constraints to why they did the job like that but frankly when a job like that crops up, a few minutes googling non destructive solutions is something well worth doing, every days a school day and I don't charge my customers for doing a bit of research before wasting time and materials with a bodge rather than doing it properly, bottom line is I'm teaching myself another skill and thsts handy. When I worked for an engineering firm, likewise I didn't put the time figuring out things like that on the job sheet but I did try a bit harder to avoid butchering the object
I was meant to be salvaging. I've removed lots of those type of bushings from motorbike wheels over the years and never had to drill the hub to do it, from memory I think a rawl bolt / expanding concrete fixing has served the perpouse a few times as has drilling through the bushing rubber portion and collapsing in the remains a bit with a chisel. Just seems a very odd way to resolve the issue.