That was my situation as well, I resorted to using a piece of copper tube that the gas fitters use over the pond to feed from the home gas fire from the main supply pipe, it measures around 5-7mm ish and is just right for bending and shoving it up the bottom end of the steering column to push the ststor tube out, it straightens itself out up the tube as you push and you can rebend it again when pulling it out. Failing that you could try pushing a long thin wire up from the bottom so that it comes out of the top at the steering wheel then fix something to the bottom to jamb into the stator tube with a wooden plug and you can pull it up, have not tried it myself, but it should work.
Best of luck
Bob