2009 Astra - Headlight Failure

Arunmor

My daughter's Fabia is nightmare too.  LHS requires battery removal and on both you end up with skinned knuckles trying to get the bulb holder to relocate.  Back end is a pain getting the light cluster off/on without damaging the paint work.  She has a brake light that needs a good slap at the moment, will get to that in the new year when I have the energy.

On-the-coast

i feel your pain.  in fact there was a front running light that had also blown on our Astra, but that would have required taking out the battery and possibly more to access it, so we've left that until tomorrow...  By which i mean my son will do it when he gets round to it (no later than MoT in a few months!).
I'm still scarred  (literally and figuratively) from replacing the front bulb of an old cavalier in the dark/rain of a motorway services 30 years ago.  Hands were too big to access the clips.
OTOH i can still remember the pleasure of changing rear bulbs on a Mitsbishi Shogun a few years ago. So well engineered for access!

Mildly_Miffed

Would it be quicker to remove the light, and change the bulb with it removed?

On-the-coast

Mildly_Miffed said:

Would it be quicker to remove the light, and change the bulb with it removed?

Quite possibly.  I did watch one youtube video for removing the lightassembly, and with 2 out, it probably would have been quicker as you remove the whole front section first.  On the other hand, in my experience of removing panels from old cars, it's been rare that i've done so without a few plastic retainers snapping off. 
I still think it's very poor for any manufacturer to release a car where practically speaking a competent novice would not be able to change a bulb in 5 minutes by the side of the road on a dark raining night.