my boot has never popped open properly since I bought it. At first I tried removing the weight bolted to the boot lid, but this did nothing at all. After this I assumed the fault lay with the gas struts and so have been on look out for a replacement set, as I was looking today I came across the thread about the penny trick and though I might as well give that a try. Went to take off the springs and found one of them bent at a 90 degree angle - problem found!
after a lot of fiddling around I managed to remove the spring and stud and heat the stud to a point where I could manipulate it to a straight rod again, boot now opens as it should!
No more dropping all my bags while I try simultaneously pressing the boot release and lifting the boot lid!