man the search function of this site is rubbish. I searched for all posts by madvw from "my profile" and I got 3 results. An advanced search gave 2 pages of results... If it showed all my posts i could have shown you the pics and parts needed...
moan over.
Anyway, I had this a few years ago, on boxing day of all days. It was quite funny watching me have to unlock the car, start the engine, run to the back of the car to close the boot then quickly jump in and lock the central locking before it opened again...
The problem is that water has entered the boot around the boot touchpads, and corroded the contacts within the switch. Its inevitable given the design, as they are protected from the outside of the car by a foam gasket - which becomes hard and brittle.
To see how bad the problem is, you'll need to remove the boot panel on the bootlid and remove the 4 connectors going into the boot panel trim. Two of the connectors are for the reg plate lights, the other two are for the boot release soft touch switches. One, some or all of them will be soaking and green with corrosion - and the connector will most likely take the switch pins off with it.
To repair the problem you need to know how many connector you need to replace - any sign of corrosion, replace it. Also, you'll need to replace the soft-touch switch too.
Once you know the extent of the corrosion, order up the new bits.
When I did mine, I just replaced everything apart from the trim itself. I ordered:
2 x number plate lights (come with bulbs)
2 x soft boot switches
2 x connectors (part number on old ones)
2 x repair wires (repair wires come with connectors on both ends, so you can cut them in half and use 1 per connector)
The MOST important bit of all though is to remember to buy the replacement foam gaskets to prevent it from all happening again. If you're reusing good parts, you have to scrape all the old foam gasket crap and adhesive off the boot trim, switches, lights and everything. This'll take twice as long as the whole job. Make sure the parts dept. order ALL the gaskets too, there will be one for all the screws, switches and lights, and they'll either stick to the parts themselves or the boot trim.
When you've got all the bits, strip it down, clean it all up and dry it, and refit the boot trim. Be very careful when re-screwing the boot trim back in, as its easy to strip the thread into the boot trim panel if you over-tighten. Once that's all back in, cut off the knackered connectors, solder on the new repair wires, cover in heat-shrink, and then assemble the connectors - they are a piece of art in themselves (they have a sliding cover once the terminals have been inserted).. then plug it all back in.
probably worth disconnecting the battery too while doing it all i guess... I didnt though, as i needed the ciggy lighter socket for the soldering iron
I sincerely apologise for having nothing constructive to contribute to this discussion but the thought of someone going all Basil Fawlty because of their boot lid really made me chuckle! Sorry 
