Thank you all for your invaluable information/advice (especially the guides you provided GMballistic)!
I finally got round to doing them. Removing the old struts off the bootlid was an absolute pain! It took a lot of force to finally remove them, I was scared the inner bootlid skin would come off with it!
I made the common mistake a lot of owners have previously made, I fitted the bracket upside down! I didn't notice the second guide you sent GM, until I had completed the job. So the bracket issue was completely overlooked.
After everything was complete, I put all my tools away and thought I could go in and relax. Upon the final walkaround, I noticed the top of the bootlid was not sitting flush with the roof and A pillars. I began to panic thinking I may have over extended the bootlid hinges when holding the bootlid up when the struts weren't attached causing this misalignment.
I opened and closed the bootlid on a number of occasions trying to work out what the issue was until I noticed on the comparison photos between the new and old struts fitted to my Zed what I had done - what a wally I am!
When the bracket was the wrong way round the bootlid flies open when the button is pressed, almost like the struts had too much power. I'm assuming this was due to the pressure caused by the misalignment due to the incorrectly fitted brackets.
Once the brackets were flipped over, the bootlid now sits perfectly and all seems to be working perfectly.
Could this mistake have caused any damage to the bootlid hinges/lock mechanism/bootlid/struts?
I'm surprised how the bootlid still shuts even though the whole bootlid is misaligned at the top. Are the hinges and related mechanics designed to be flexible or something? I'm scared the pressure may have caused damage to the hinges.
Once again thank you for all of your help and input guys