Those of you who have owned  a Vrs for a while or are new owners, you might find this useful.

On the car there are 2 number plate bulbs covered by separate plastic lens. Each lens is held in place by 2 self tapping screws.

 

The first problem is they are mild steel and corrode, soo if a bulb blows your b*******. I have replaced those screws 3-4 times, so today after replacing a

bulb i ordered some No: 10 x 13 long A2 stainless steel pan head pozi drive screws from ebay (£1.50 for 10).

Secondly, to push the bulbs (W5W) into the socket is a real pain cos if your not careful the whole bulb holder disapears into the tailgate and you have to

remove the black inner cover to retrieve it. Trust me by now patience has vanished screaming over the horizon !!!!.

Hope this helps

What he said is good advice,  if you cant remove the lenses because the screw heads have disintegrated into rust, then pull the bottled plastic off and you can do it from within the car.   Then you have to replace the plastic trim panel which for the uninitiated can be troublesome!  Dip the screw threads in a little waxoyl or grease wouldn't go a miss either.

Screws were rusted on mine so I go in via the plastic panel on the inside of the tailgate.  Loads easier to do that than drill and remove rusty screws.

@Silver Bullet @Leeboy @SheffieldVRS - I think you may have discovered the real solution to the vanishing bulb holder trick!

Old thread, but in case someone else has a similar issue: I had to replace a license plate bulb and did accidentally push it inside. I didn't have time to investigate further for several weeks. DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKE! Those bulbs get very hot! By the time I tore off the inside trim (estate/combi, hell of a job, neighbors thought I was beating the car to death) what I found was a burnt-up mess of melted glass bulb and melted plastic around the housing. Had to file out the melted plastic from the hole in the metal frame just to be able to stick the socket back in properly so it sits all hot without touching anything. I was tempted to replace with LEDs, but the price is outrageous.